Mumbai: Student denied SSC exams over residence proof

Asif Khan with his mother Fooljahan Khan

The Maharashtra State Board and Secondary Board has prohibited a 17-year-old SSC student from giving the SSC exam in March because of "insufficient" residence proof in Maharashtra. According to the board rules, residence proof of the student should be submitted. However, even when the student gave a ration card as proof, the University board rejected it and demanded he submit a domicile certificate, which is only made after a person has lived in Mumbai for 10 years.

The student has been identified as Mohommad Asif Khan, 17, who lives in Ghatkopar with his mother. Before 2019, Khan lived in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh with his parents Nafiz Ahmed and Fooljahan. His father suffers from kidney failure and is on dialysis, and due to this, the entire family shifted to Mumbai in 2018.

Speaking with mid-day, Khan's sister-in-law Fatima Khan said, "Asif is a brilliant student. We all moved here in 2018. He gave his Class VIII exam from Mumbai in 2020." The Khan family made a ration card on January 18, 2018 as residence proof, but Asif's name was not added in the ration card. In 2019, his father died due to kidney failure. Later on February 1, 2021, Khan's name was added to the ration card.

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Khan also took admission privately in August 2022 at Guru Govind School at Sewree for his SSC. His family submitted the certificate on December 2022, which had been prepared by the Advance Academy School in Sultanpur. In this certificate, the school principal had written: "According to the school records Asif Nafees Khan was born on February 22, 2005, and he passed Class VIII in 2020-2021 from our school. During COVID, Khan was staying in Mumbai and he appeared for the exams online."

However, the SSC board rejected the certificate in December 2022. The family also tried submitting the ration card, but the University Board refused it and asked that he submit a domicile certificate. When mid-day contacted the Mumbai Divisional Board of SSC, an official promised to look into the issue.