Mumbai students call out alleged money-making HSC prep groups

The Mind Faces profile on Instagram; (right) A WhatsApp exchange between a customer and an individual associated with Mind Faces

While Mumbai's tech-savvy students have been following groups and joining communities to prepare for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination and keep up with the latest Std XII exam chatter, some alleged that the offerings of many such groups are nothing more than money-making schemes. Recently, a few students started making Instagram reels to expose Mind Faces, a college community page on Instagram. From festivals to culture, students tap into the Mumbai college life via such pages.

A ‘chemistry guide' shared with Mind Faces' customers as part of its ‘insider programme'

However, a few weeks ago, when the HSC exams began on February 10, the page started advertising an ‘insider programme' on its social broadcasts, explained students. Shortly after, a Google form was made where pupils signed up for this course and paid R1799, after which they received links to question banks and question papers, students told mid-day. Eventually, though, they realised that the papers were not exclusive and they alleged that open-source material had been repackaged and sold to them.

A virtually identical and freely available question bank by the State Council of Educational Research and Training

A student had put together the sum with the help of her classmates, and they all intended to share the notes. The student has registered a complaint about the matter on the National Cyber Portal.

HSC students have alleged open-source material was repackaged. Representation pic

Feb 10
Day HSC exams began

Rs 1799
Amount students paid for course

Educator's views

Pooja Gupta aka, Media Mentor, education influencer and journalist
‘Students sent us these messages and tagged us in their reels, so we gave their concerns a platform. We also had students and parents share screenshots of inappropriate conversations that went on in such groups'

The other side

Jai Shah, administrator of the account
‘We never confirmed whether parts of our content would be available elsewhere or not, and only selected Science students might have experienced this. All our PDFs were not taken from the source. Students have enrolled voluntarily after reading the guidelines. Most other social media platforms function in this manner, taking open source data which can be taken'

Advocate Ashish Shukla, Jai Shah's lawyer
‘A legal notice with caption ‘Cease and Desist Notice for Defamation, Harassment, Interference, False Criminal Allegations and Character Assassination Through Online Content' was sent to Pooja Gupta of Media Mentor from my client Mr Jai Shah'

Students speak

Science student, from Fort
‘A classmate has registered a cyber complaint. However, the rest of us could not do the same since we are not yet 18. We were led to believe that the notes would be something distinct from what was already out there'

Science student, from Navi Mumbai
‘My parents were sceptical of the entire page, but I insisted that this would be a good way to score better. I paid R1799, but soon the word spread, and I realised that we had received duplicated and unhelpful exam material. Soon after, I promptly exited the group'

Ahaana Parikh, a Std XII Walkeshwar-based Science student
‘I was already studying from those notes for my papers, and then we received another link from our college group. Our Biology professor had shared a question bank by SCERT [State Council of Educational Research and Training], and turns out it was exactly what Mind Faces sold us. I was furious. Several students have coughed up a lot of money for something that was never exclusive'