An image of a Social Studies question paper from S.M.S English Medium School in Brahmavar, Karnataka, designed for 7th standard students for the month of June 2023, is currently circulating widely on social media. The claim being made in the post suggests that the questions asked in the paper are exclusively related to Muslims and other communities, indicating bias against Hinduism by the school management. Let’s verify the authenticity of the claim made in the post.
Claim: S.M.S English Medium School in Karnataka designed a Social Studies question paper for 7th standard students, which exclusively asked questions related to Muslim and other communities, indicating bias against Hinduism.
Fact: The allegation of prejudice in the Social Studies question paper at S.M.S English Medium School has been refuted by the school management. The first-month lessons covered topics on Christianity, Islam, crusades, the Mongols, and renaissance as per the prescribed syllabus. These topics were then included in the unit test for 7th standard students. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
An internet search with the relevant keywords led us to a news report by the local media outlet Daiji World. According to the report, after the image of the question paper went viral with baseless allegations, the management of S.M.S English Medium Schools organized a press meeting on 13 July 2023 to clarify the issue to the public and the parents of their school students.
Abhilasha Hande, principal of S.M.S English Medium CBSE School, confirmed that the first-month lessons covered ‘Major Developments in the World’ and ‘Beginning of the Modern Age-Renaissance.’ The related topics on Christianity, Islam, the Crusades, the Mongols, and Renaissance were included in the unit test based on the prescribed syllabus, prepared with no bad intention.
Abhilasha addressed the misinformation on social media, where some wrongly depicted the questions and claimed bias and religious usage in education at the institution. She emphasized that the facts were twisted, causing fear among parents of both SMS English Medium School (CBSE) and SMS English Medium School (state syllabus). She highlighted the school’s history of providing education in Brahmavar, welcoming students from diverse backgrounds with a secular approach. The school fosters fraternity through activities like yoga, Bharatnatyam, Yakshagana, and other Indian cultural events.
We also found that the schools in Karnataka reopened only at the end of May, and the lesson content in the textbook of social studies for class 7 matched the details mentioned by the school management in the press meeting.
Furthermore, we have contacted the school management and requested them to provide us with the final question papers from the previous academic year. This post will be updated once we obtain the required information.
To summarize, the first-month lessons for 7th-standard students at S.M.S English Medium School covered topics on Christianity, Islam, the Crusades, the Mongols, and Renaissance, following the prescribed syllabus. These topics were subsequently included in the unit test.
