The ICSE council has held the school at fault for promoting Kuskar from standard IX to X despite a 45% attendance.
Shefali Kuskar, 15, could have been spared an ordeal had her school adhered to protocol. The standard X student of Lady Ratanbai and Sir Mathuradas Vissanji Academy in Andheri (east), who has juvenile diabetes, faces the risk of losing an academic year after the council of the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) denied her permission to appear for the board exams starting March 3 due to poor attendance. She is the only student not to receive the hall ticket.
The ICSE council has held the school at fault for promoting Kuskar from standard IX to X despite a 45% attendance. According to the rules, students with health problems must have at least 60% attendance to be eligible for promotion. Others must have 75% attendance.
“Shefali was diagnosed with Type I diabetes mellitus in 2008 when she was in standard VIII. Her condition worsened the following year and she was hospitalised many times thereafter.
Because of her hospitalisation, she missed school often and ended up with 45% attendance,” said her father Vikas Kuskar, a businessman.
The school, however, promoted her without informing the council about her illness. Had it written to them, informing them about the girl’s health issues, an exception could have been made.
“All medical reports should be attached to the letter and sent to the council during the course of the year. The council then considers promoting the candidate,” said Perin Bagli, secretary, ICSE Schools Association, Mumbai.
In Kuskar’s case, the school wrote a letter to the council, but did not mention about her illness. Her father has begun the process of filing a writ petition with the Bombay high court after the ICSE council on January 28 apprised them about their decision. The letter (a copy of which is with DNA) sent by PJ George, assistant secretary of the council, to Shefali’s school states, “Shefali was promoted to class X without prior approval from the council despite her attendance being below the required percentage in class IX. In view of this background, the candidate cannot be permitted to appear for the ICSE March 2010 examination.”
The school’s principal, Shahnaz Chauhan, who took charge in October 2009, said, “It appears that the former principal (Ajaya Bajpai) promoted Shefali on the insistence of her parents. I have appealed to the council to reconsider their decision as the girl’s academic year is at stake.”
She added, “I have informed the council that Shefali’s condition is now stable and that she has the required percentage of attendance in class X.”
Though Chauhan says the council has assured of a positive reply, Vikas is not too impressed. “They have been giving such assurances for more than two weeks. But while the other students have got hall tickets, they haven’t done anything about my daughter,” he said.
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