Amid India-Pakistan conflict, 30 Pakistani students clear Kerala's SSLC exam in UAE
The relations between India and Pakistan may have frayed, but the people's connection between the countries remains strong as ever. In an interesting development, over 30 Pakistani students were among those who cleared Kerala’s Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) class 10 exams in the United Arab Emirates.
About 60 UAE-based non-Indian students – nearly half of them Pakistanis – have excelled in Kerala’s Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) Class 10 exams, the results of which were announced recently. Of the 685 students, including Indians and non-Indians, who appeared for the exams, 677 cleared it, said reports.
Seven UAE schools follow the Kerala State Board in the UAE, including Model Private School, Abu Dhabi; New Indian Model School, Sharjah; and Indian School, Fujairah, which achieved a 100 per cent pass rate.
Of the 66 non-Indians who took the SSLC exams, 30 were Pakistanis while 20 were from Bangladesh. There were also five Afghans, three Sri Lankans. The remaining eight were from the Philippines, Nepal, Egypt, Mali, Sudan, Senegal, Yemen, and Iran. Of these, 61 students qualified for higher studies, according to The Gulf News.
The highest number of non-Indian students following the Kerala Board, 24, are in the New Indian School at Ras Al Khaimah. The Kerala Board schools are quite popular in the UAE due to the huge Malayali diaspora. As per the 2020 figures, there are over 773,000 Malayalis in the UAE.
School principal Beena Rani told Gulf News that non-Indian students, particularly Pakistanis, have been following the Kerala State Board curriculum for many years. "Initially, we had Pakistani students, and later, other nationalities started enrolling," she said.
While Kerala Board stresses learning Malayalam as a mandatory subject in Kerala, it is not so in the UAE. Malayalam is not mandatory, the principal said. "Students can choose alternative subjects. For instance, they can opt for General Knowledge instead of Hindi. There’s also an elective English paper, which makes it easier for non-Indian students to score well," Rani added.
However, there is a huge hurdle as the Kerala SSLC results are not officially recognised in Pakistan. Rajesh Janardanan, head of the Secondary Section at Indian School, Fujairah, noted that Kerala SSLC results are not officially recognised in Pakistan and Bangladesh. "Some families may not be returning to Pakistan or Bangladesh, so they opt for the Kerala Board," he told Gulf News.
Middle East