Saifa Khatun, a 12-year-old girl from Amta in West Bengal’s Howrah, is all set to appear for Class 10 Bengal board exam in 2019. The girl has always been home-schooled.
Although the minimum age to appear in the board exam is 14, Saifa was selected only after she qualified the eligibility test, conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. The test was only for external candidates and Saifa secured 52 percent.
According to the Bengal board president, Kalyanmoy Ganguly, “Her case was unprecedented in the history of Madhyamik Examination in the past two decades. She performed quite well in the test.”
According to a report in Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika, the Chairman of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education announced on Friday that she will appear as an external student for AAS High School in Howrah’s Salkiya.
As per Saifa’s father Sheikh Mohammad Ainul, a local doctor, she has always been ahead of other children of her age. By age 7, she had finished studying the books. The biggest struggle was to get her to appear for the Class 10 Board examinations.
While talking to Anandabazar, the little genius said that she doesn’t care about going to the school. She said that even Rabindranath Tagore and Ashapurna Devi didn’t go to school and were homeschooled. “Are they uneducated?”, she asked. Saifa not only wants to appear for the exam but also plans to top the results.
