Mumbai school trustee's son allegedly helped with answers for SSC papers

The incident occurred at Wamanrao Muranjan School in Mulund PicsRajesh GuptaA school in Mulund has seemingly taken a page out of Bihars 2015 SSC copying scandal While hundreds of parents and friends scaled walls of test centres to provide answers to students in Bihar some teachers of the Wamanrao Muranjan High School and Junior College quietly pooled their resources to help one student ndash son of the secretary of the trust that runs the school no less ndash cheat for all papers in this years SSC examThe alleged cheating occurred throughout this years SSC examination at the Wamanrao Muranjan High School and Junior College in Mulund EastComplaint letters regarding the incident have been sent to the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis by Rahul Banavali a local activist who is also an alumnus of the 1998 batch of the school The first set was sent out on April 11 while the second one was sent on July 4Also read Eight Home Guards held for exam mess court slams ministerThe student at the heart of the scandal is the son of Deepak Joshi secretary of the Raosaheb Balaram Nyandev Thakur Vidyamandir which runs the school Banavali has alleged that the student was provided with papers before the scheduled exam time and subject teachers were also present in his classroom to provide answersRight from Day 1The incident came to light after a few teachers resumed their job after being away on supervision duty and informed schools alumni about the incessant copying The complaint states that the assisted cheating began at the start of the SSC examination on March 7 to help Joshis son While the exams were on some other students had also noticed the copying and mentioned it to their parentsAlso read Student booked for copying question paper leak of Algebra SSC paperSoon enough the rumours started doing rounds and reached the teachers who were hitherto unaware of the happening Unhappy with the events they mentioned what had happened to Banavali who then sent the complaint to higher authoritiesBanavali told midday When the teachers approached me to inform about this unfair practice none wanted to come forward fearing consequences of raising their voice against the school What I have come to know from them is very serious and is a complete injustice to many other students appearing for the same exam at the same timeCheating appliances galoreThe secretarys son was given question papers before the scheduled time Not only was he given a separate space to sit while appearing for the exam but also received assistance from teachers who provided answers he added saying that the first complaint had been sent in March itselfAlso read Panels to check copying at all SSC HSC exam centresI have been following it up since then but the authorities have taken no concrete action So I have once again sent letters to higher authorities including the Chief Minister said Banavali Speaking to midday on the condition of anonymity a teacher said I was away from the school as I was on supervision duty at another branch But when I got to know about the incident I was shocked and hence mentioned it to our former studentsDattatray Jagtap chairman of the Mumbai division of MSBSHSE said We have received the complaint and it is a serious matter if proven true The local education officer will be asked to conduct an enquiry in this complaintTrust in denialAs for the trust it is in complete denial of the allegations and has instead decided to file a complaint against Banavali for targeting it for vested interestsDr Anand Pradhan chairman of board of trustees said Why was complaint not made when the said copying incident was happening in the school as alleged Why did the complainant wait for so long to raise their voice This itself is to be questioned It shows that the complaint has been made with mala fide intentions They could have directly gone to the judiciary at that time instead of making noise much after the exam The education department has already asked us for a report on it and we have provided the same Now if higher authorities have to inquire we are not against itAlso read Frisk students before exams state boardHe added The vigilance department raided the school during exams That specific boy and the entire school were inspected thoroughly and it was found that no such incident was happening at the school We also have it in writing from 21 teachers from the school that no such incident took place It is also important to note that the trust has no say in how exams are held at school We just provide infrastructure This school has been holding exams for railway and police department too for many years If we had such lacklustre management why would any organisation trust us for holding such important examinations Joshi remained unreachable for comment