Mumbai: The State government has asked the state education board to mention the place of birth of students on the final mark sheets issued to them when they clear the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams.
According to a Government Resolution (GR) issued on October 5, the mark sheet would replace the school-leaving certificate, which is at present used to procure other documents such as driving licences, passports and domicile certificates.
“The idea is to make the Class X certificate a singular document that could provide almost all critical details required later in life, either for further studies or for seeking employment,” said Nand Kumar, principal secretary (school education and sports). The date of birth is already printed on the SSC mark sheets.
Kumar said that the decision had been taken following a demand raised by Pune-based activist Kaleem Shaikh, who felt that when students approach for jobs, they are required to submit multiple documents, such as school-leaving certificates, birth or domicile certificates, and passports, for verification of their personal details. He felt that it would be convenient for students if the Class X mark sheets could provide all relevant personal details.
Though the October 5 GR seeks mention of just the birth date and birthplace of a student, Kumar said they are also planning to mention the student’s nationality on the certificate. “While the place of birth would automatically reveal the nationality of a student earlier, in these days of international citizenship, that extra bit of detail in a single certificate would help the student,” he said.
The change will be introduced from the board exams scheduled in February/March 2017. The onus of verification of this critical information will be on the principals of the respective schools.
Seema Shaikh, principal of Pradnya Bodhini High School, said, “It will increase the clerical burden on schools. We will now also have to verify if the students’ birthplace tallies with the details submitted by him in his birth certificate long ago. As of now, we just had to verify the birth date of the child from his records. It is an additional burden. Many a time, we find that students confuse birthplace with place of origin and end up filling in the wrong details.”
GK Mhamane, chairman of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, said: “As of now, Class X examination forms are filled and submitted by students in school under the supervision of the school. Only schools have the login id for filling the exam forms. So, the onus of all the personal details of a child is on the school. The board merely provides the certification based on the information provided to it; it itself does not verify the credentials of the information provided.”
The writer is a freelance journalist
