As many as 102 children from the economically weaker sections in New Delhi and Gurgaon will be mentored by Mensa, world’s oldest and largest high IQ society, the organisation’s president Kishore Asthana told The Sunday Guardian.
Asthana, who took over as Mensa president from Nirav Sanghvi on 19 September, wants to promote awareness of Mensa in India so that more children could be linked with its educational programmes.
The 102 children, who have been shortlisted from government and NGO run schools in New Delhi and Gurgaon, will be mentored under “Dhruv” initiative, which is Mensa’s Underprivileged Gifted Child Identification and Nurturing Program. Mensa and its sponsor IndiGo will mentor these children till they graduate and get jobs.
Mensa India is the Indian arm of Mensa, operating from Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi/NCR. Nashik and Baroda will soon have additional branches.
Mensa Pune’s Tribal program has tested more than 15,000 tribal and other underprivileged children since 2002 and has contributed towards their education and wellbeing.
Mensa India holds a qualifying IQ test regularly conducted by certified Mensa Proctors. Those who score in the 98th percentile or above are invited to become members of Mensa India.