Question 572: Is it permissible for a student who has to attend his classes in the month of Ramadhan and also has important exams in this month, not to fast in order to better concentrate on his studies and during the exams?

Answer 572: Attending your classes and studying in the month of Ramadhan is not a valid excuse to escape fasting. Of course, if one is left with one of the two options i.e. he should attend his class or observe fast and that not attending his classes will put him into such difficulty that is not bearable normally, he should make niyyah of fasting at dawn and should abstain from eating and drinking until it becomes extremely difficult to fast in which case it is permissible to eat or drink at the time of extreme hunger and thirst sufficing to the necessary amount (of food or water). He should observe the qadha of that day after the month of Ramadhan and he will not be liable to any kaffara.

If a person has the means and can go out of the city with the intention to travel as far as 44 kilometers, he can go on a short journey and break his fast during the journey and come back to his hometown to attend his classes or exams.

One should travel 44 kilometers to break his fast. If the outward and return distances make 44 km, he should break his fast. Remember, the beginning of 8 farsakh (44 km) should be calculated from a point beyond which he will be deemed a traveler, and this point is represented by the last boundary of a city. In certain very big cities, it would be probably reckoned from the end of locality.[1]

For further information in this regards, please read the following answer:

Index: Things from which a person keeping fast must abstain & Kaffarah (Expiation), answer 372.

Index: Number of things which are disapproved (Makruh) for a person observing fast, answer 566.

[1] . The official website of the office of Sayyid Sistani (ha), Q&A: Fasting and Education; Majma’ al-Masael (by Golpayegani), Vol. 1, Pg. 274; New Istiftaat (Makarem), Vol. 2, Pg. 151.