Girl cannot sit for SSC as school fails to issue LC in time

Preeti Shetty, 15, may not be able to sit for the SSC exams this year, as her school delayed issuing her a leaving certificate by five months.

Shetty had failed her Std IX exams and so decided to appear for the board exams as a private candidate. To register with the board, she needed a leaving certificate from her school — Little Angels, Sion. However, the school copied details like her birth-date from a leaving certificate that she had submitted at the time of joining the school. This certificate had a mistake in Shetty’s birth year. As a result, the leaving certificate that Little Angels issued her also carried this mistake.

“I moved from St Sardar School in Santa Cruz to Little Angels in Std II. But the leaving certificate issued by that school had written down my birth date as December 26, 1992, instead of January 26, 1994,” said Shetty.

In June, Shetty asked authorities at Little Angels to correct the mistake and issue her a fresh leaving certificate. The procedure should not have taken more than a few days. However, it took the school nearly five months to issue the new certificate. As a result, Shetty missed out on the last date of submitting the examination forms required for appearing for the board exams.

Shetty approached the state education department in Mantralaya to ask for permission to submit her form late. The education department authorities agreed to take in her form but the school would have to change the date on the leaving certificate to June. However, the school has refused to do so.

“There was a delay in issuing the leaving certificate because the education department took a lot of time to give us permission to change her birth date. But we cannot change the date of issue on the leaving certificate. It is against our policy,” said the school principal.