The SMS English Medium School, located in Bramavara in Karnataka's Udupi district was recently in the news due to the photos of its Class VII monthly test paper doing rounds on social media, and not for the right reasons. On July 13, the school management committee condemned people's reactions on social media, and alleged that they were discrediting the school.
The school's Social Science question paper for the month of June mentioned only questions from Christianity and Islam. The viral post of the question paper had a footnote stating, "There is not even a single question on Hinduism, Where is our education system heading?" as reported by The New Indian Express.
Clearing the air, school Principal Vathsala Shetty explained that the first two chapters scheduled to be taught in June had covered only Christianity and Islam. "Moving forward there are chapters related to Hinduism as well. So questions about Hinduism will appear in monthly tests to be held in the coming months," she said.
Further, she alleged that people were spreading fake messages on social media about the school and trying to damage its reputation by branding it as limiting its teaching to only Christianity and Islam while negating Hinduism. Meanwhile, Alan Rohan Vaz, General Secretary of the OSC Educational Society, an NGO, Bramavara, reiterated that the viral message was bringing a bad name to the school which has a legacy built over the years since 1916.
''Based on the chapters Major Development of the World and Beginning of the Modern Age — Renaissance, the questions revolved around Christianity, Islam, Crusades, Turks and Renaissance. This school follows the Karnataka State Board Syllabus. Some prejudiced people have misunderstood and used this as an opportunity to tarnish the image of the school. We are not against any religion or community. The school conducted the unit test based on the syllabus taught to the students. When chapters on Hinduism are taught, the unit test will be on the same," he said.
Vaz added that a complaint has been filed at the Udupi CEN police station. "With these falsehoods, unnecessary tension is being created for the parents sending their kids to our school," he said further, as per TNIE.
