What is a bonafide certificate?

What a bonafide certificate means

A bonafide certificate is a letter from the school stating that a student is on its rolls in a given class and session. “Bona fide” means “genuine”: the school is vouching that the child really studies there.

It is not set out in one national law, and we found no single official format for schools. Each office that asks for it may want different details, and some schemes give their own format. So the safest certificate is one that states the facts plainly and matches the school’s records.

Where the school office meets it

It reaches the office as a parent’s request, because some other office wants proof that the child is a current student. Scholarships are one example. The National Scholarship Portal’s procedures ask a student without Aadhaar to upload a “bonafide student certificate from Institute / School” with the application.²

The office that asks for the certificate decides what it accepts, and some schemes print their own format. The Begum Hazrat Mahal scholarship’s format, for instance, asks for the student’s and parent’s names, date of birth, roll number, class, academic year and domicile state, with the head’s signature and the school’s seal.³ Ask the parent whether there is a format, and use it if there is.

What the school has to do

1. Take a written request from the parent, with the purpose. Our sample applications for a bonafide certificate cover the usual cases.
2. Check the details against the admission register: the student’s full name, parents’ names, date of birth, class and section, and admission number.
3. State the academic session and, where useful, the purpose. A certificate for a scholarship need not serve a bank as well.
4. Give it a serial number and the date, and keep a copy or an entry in a register.
5. Have the head of the school sign it, and put the seal on it.

The free bonafide certificate maker fills these fields into a printable format. Inside Scoolin, each certificate is numbered and kept exactly as it was printed.

Common mistakes

• Issuing it after a student has left. Once a TC is issued, a bonafide letter would no longer be true.
• Spelling that differs from other records. If the name differs from the admission register or Aadhaar, the office may reject the certificate. Copy the name from the register.
• No date or session. A certificate without them can’t show that the student is enrolled now.
• No record kept. If someone later checks with the school, the office should be able to find what it issued and when.
• Confusing it with a character certificate. A character certificate speaks to conduct; the character certificate maker is for that.

Related terms

• School leaving certificate: the TC, for a student who leaves.
• Scholar register: the register the certificate’s details come from.
• Admission number: the number that ties the certificate to the student’s record.
• Migration certificate: a board’s certificate, not a school’s.

Sources

1. CBSE, Examination Bye-Laws (2013 edition), bye-law 8(iii). Back to the text
2. National Scholarship Portal, Standard Operating Procedures, version 1.0, 24 July 2019, student registration. Back to the text
3. Maulana Azad Education Foundation, frequently asked questions on the Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship, Annexure-I, for the 2021-22 academic year. Back to the text