Mumbai: Thane school shares notes 15 hours before exam

Universal High School at Brahmand, Thane West, is currently conducting its annual examinations. Pic/Sameer Markande

The authorities of Thane's Universal High School and parents are at loggerheads over the institute sharing notes of a couple of chapters just 15 hours prior to the Std VIII final Geography examination held on February 11. While the parents are of the opinion that it's difficult for students to prepare themselves in such a short span of time, the authorities say, "It's a privilege extended by the school". Currently, the school is conducting the final examinations, which started on February 10.

Of the seven chapters part of the Geography syllabus for the examination, notes for two - Human Resources and Natural & Man-Made Disasters - were uploaded on the school's intranet website on February 10 evening. The students appeared for the examination the following day morning at 8.30 am. In fact, one of the parents claimed to have approached the school on February 8 requesting them to upload the notes for the two chapters at the earliest, only to be told that they would be shared by February 10 morning.

When the notes were finally uploaded at 5.20 pm on Monday, the parent said on their common WhatsApp group, "Unki morning 5:20 pm se start hoti hai I guess (I guess their morning starts only at 5.20 pm,"

Requesting anonymity, another parent said, "The school discourages students to take down notes while in class. They share the notes with parents over their intranet website. This way, they are not creating a culture of studies and uploading the notes is resulting in the students not developing the writing habit."

On the WhatsApp group, another parent raised the point of how could the children study two chapters starting 7 pm as they were supposed to appear for the exam at 8.30 am the next day. To this, another guardian asked, "Have they been asked to leave out two chapters?" One of the students said that it was common of their teachers asking them to skip some chapters, so that they can reduce stress.

Another parent said, "We pay through our nose for tuition fees, stationary, uniform, compulsory dance classes and various other things. The total amount goes up to R1.50 lakh/year. While the English Literature exam has been scheduled for February 24, notes on all 10 chapters were uploaded on Tuesday (February 11), which is after the exams commenced."

When contacted, principal of the school's Thane branch, Sanjivani Bose said, "The syllabus has been completed. The notes uploaded on the intranet site are only for revision purpose. Students are not supposed to read and learn from those notes. Everything is taught in school. Sharing notes on intranet is an additional effort on the school's part and a privilege extended to students."

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