Elvis Jhael Lozano, who learned to read at 3, is a whiz at arithmetic and knows a lot about the history of his country and the world, was in an audience Thursday where his knowledge surprised Zelaya, who promised him a scholarship at home or abroad.

The boy’s mother, Merari Muñoz, traveled from the Caribbean coastal town of Sonaguera to Tegucigalpa in search of help, since for her it’s a problem to have a son who is too talented, because of the lack of specialized educational centers in Honduras.

Muñoz told the daily Tiempo that some doctors have said that her son has a photographic memory.

Zelaya received Elvis and his mother Thursday, promised him a scholarship so he can study and gave him a laptop computer, a presidential spokesperson said.

Elvis is studying in first grade, but says he’s bored because everything his instructor teaches him he already knows, so he hopes they will promote him to at least the fourth grade.

The boy, whose father is Elvin Lozano, also has an 8-year-old brother.

In Sonaguera they call the youngster “the boy genius,” but he prefers that they call him by his name, his mother said, telling Tiempo that when he was 2 years old he preferred pencils, books and notebooks to toys.

At 3 an aunt gave him a book of Biblical texts, which he read frequently, but she never imagined he would learn them by heart.

Later he was given a first-grade textbook, which he learned to read in a week.