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Tangerang state senior high school male student, Muhammad Sudirman, 17, has been expelled and is not allowed by his school to take part in the upcoming National Examinations for getting married.

He said a school counselor summoned him one week after he was married on Feb. 11. “He told me that I had violated [the school’s policy] by getting married at an early age. So, I’m not allowed to go to school anymore,” he said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com in a press conference at the National Commission for Child Protection’s (Komnas PA) headquarters in East Jakarta.

He said he had paid his school tuition fee of Rp 500,000 (US$51) in late February before knowing that the school expelled him on March 6, the
second day he underwent his final semester’s exam.

“The school sent a letter to my parents, saying I’m no longer able to take part in the National Exam and I’ve been expelled,” he said.

The National Exams for senior high schools are scheduled for April 15-18.

Sudirman, who went to SMA 7 Tangerang, said he felt that the school had treated him unfairly, citing a friend who was also married but still could still go to the same school. “My friend even has a child but has not been expelled. Why was I expelled?”