Dubai, March 20 (IANS) A nine-year-old Indian schoolboy in Bahrain has scored the highest marks worldwide in two subjects in an international examination. Alexandre Mariano D’Souza, a grade five student of the Sacred Heart School in Manama, scored the highest marks in English and mathematics in the Global Achieve International Assessments for Improving Learning 2007, the Gulf Daily News reported.

The examination is conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to help develop a global programme of school-level tests in English, mathematics and science.

The tests are designed to assess, measure and recognise a student’s performance in a range of generic skills underlying the three subjects.

“The awards were a testimony to Alexandre’s accomplishment of being the best student, not just from his school or country but all over the world, among all students who appeared for the assessments,” ACER Middle East manager Alan Egbert said.