Certificates to be issued for passing class 8

From this year, Class 8 state board students will receive certificates from their schools to declare that they have completed their elementary education. The move to award such certificates has come in the wake of the Right To Education Act, which guarantees free and compulsory education till Class 8. Bhavya Dore reports.

From this year, Class 8 state board students will receive certificates from their schools to declare that they have completed their elementary education. The move to award such certificates has come in the wake of the Right To Education Act, which guarantees free and compulsory education till Class 8.

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At present, students receive certificates once they complete Class 10 from the respective boards. Last week, the education department finalised and issued the formats for these certificates to headmasters in 1,600 state board (aided and unaided) schools across the city. The certificates can be issued in either English or Marathi. The certificates will bear the principal’s signature and school stamp.

“This will certify qualifications up to Class 8, the same way you get certificates on completing Class 10,” said TM Dongre, education inspector of the North Zone. Schools will have to issue the certificates within a month of the declaration of Class 8 results. It is not clear if this will only apply to state board schools or to national and international board schools as well.

Getting such a certificate could have more than just ceremonial value.

“If students want to move out after school into vocational fields, they will still have this to show they have formally completed Class 8,” said Sitalakshmi Parameswaran, headmistress of Modern English School in Chembur.