KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has asked CBSE to consider the plea for providing an additional column in the registration form of class IX and XI for writing the expansion of initials of students, father, mother and guardians in the same manner in which it is provided in passports and school leaving certificates.
Justice N Nagaresh issued the order on a petition filed by Harish P A of Kochi seeking to consider his representation before CBSE to provide an additional column showing the expansion of initials of the student/father/mother/guardian.
According to him, the CBSE had issued a circular regarding the registration of Class IX/XI students for session 2020-’21 and a format for registration of the students. The instructions of the CBSE require schools to ensure that the expanded name of the student, mother, father and guardian should be given and no abbreviations should be used.
The court observed that the members of some of the communities in Kerala, traditionally have no surnames. A good section of citizens having surnames do not state or display surnames because they are mostly indicative of caste status. Keralites use abbreviations along with their names, which need not necessarily be the abbreviations of their surname. Sometimes the abbreviations are indicative of one’s father’s name, sometimes of mother’s name. Many a time, the abbreviations are indicative of their family name.
As the abbreviations along with names are not definite indications of surname, father’s name, mother’s name or family name, abbreviations without their expansions are used as an integral part of their names.
In short, the expansion of abbreviations need not be their surnames. Due to lack of options in some forms required to be filled for official purposes, citizens in Kerala are forced to give the expansion of abbreviations attached to their names in the ‘surname’ column, which may further cause complications in their official transactions. The grievance raised by the petitioner, therefore, merits consideration by CBSE, the court added.