Academic Policies

Students who opt for courses other than a beginner’s course would be required to submit a pre-requisite assessment. This assessment is graded by our Curriculum Head. The student is then advised to join the particular level depending on his/her singing capability and performance on the assessment.

After completing the course within a level with a passing grade, students can advance to the next course

Please note that once a student selects to “Audit” a course, the student will be automatically be considered as an “Audit” student for all the subsequent courses in the program

For an audit student to come back as a credit student, the student may re-enroll into the courses after completing the pre-requisites and complete assessments and gain a Credit Certificate.

• The Academy will NOT provide any certificate for audit courses.
• For Audit courses, the student would not be required to submit any assessments.
• A student may opt to “Audit” a course within the first six classes of a course.
• If the student has not submitted any assessments within the first six classes, the Academy will assume the course to be an”Audit” course for the student.
• The teacher will assess the student in the final class and evaluate the student to promote them to the next course or suggest Add-on classes (or in some cases, repeat the current course)
• If the student has chosen to get Credit for the course but fails to complete an assessment before the due date, the teacher reserves the right to do the assessment in class.
• A student may not audit a course after the beginners level i.e. starting level 201 in Hindustani or Carnatic Vocals

• To ensure that we have students who are learning at the Academy also attain the skills and confidence to perform on par with the best students of their genre, our students would be required to take “Level Exams” after completing each Level – Sa, Re/ Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha & Ni
• Taking these exams after completing the milestone course is mandatory for those who desire a certification in their course.
• The examiner would be either the CC or an external examiner for the student
• The exams are for Hindustani and Carnatic classical genres only

The recreation course will be graded by the teacher at the end of each course via an ‘end of course observation’.

If the teacher grades the student above 60 percent, the student will receive a ‘Course completion’ certificate.

In the event that the student receives 59 percent or lesser, the teacher may recommend customized solutions such as, but not limited to, additional classes, alternate course/s, additional practice time, or retaking the course.

Subsequently, the teacher will conduct an additional round of ‘End of course observation’ for the student to approve promotion to the next course in the program.

The second type of certification is provided to students who have opted for a ‘recreation’ course and do not submit any or a few of the assessments. A recreation course is defined as a course wherein the student does not submit any or all of the assessments, but attends all 12 classes within 130 days of the date of the first class. Such students by default receive a ‘Certificate of Completion’ signed by the founders – Dr. Shankar Mahadevan and Sridhar Ranganathan. In the event that a certificate has not been generated, please write to attendance@shankarmahadevanacademy.com

Assessment Policy for ‘Credit’ Courses

Students in ‘Certificate of Merit’ programs are graded based on their formative assessment, midterm & summative assessments. Each student’s grade will depend on the total marks he/she receives for all formative assessments, the midterm and the summative class performance.

• Students will receive a report card and ‘Certificate of Merit’. Students will be expected to submit their assessments on a regular basis.

If assessment submission goes beyond 130 days from the start of the first class and there is attendance of all 12 classes within the 130 days, the student will be automatically considered for a ‘certificate of completion’ Course.

Students in Hindustani and Carnatic Vocals 100-series, levels 101 and 102 will not have any graded assessments. Students will be required to submit practice recordings and will have formative assessments in class and these would be provided feedback by the instructor , however, the submissions would not be marked or graded. Students will receive a report at the end of the course highlighting their overall course progress. Students will receive a ‘Certificate of Completion’ at the end of 12 sessions with an attendance of 12 sessions.

Grading & Promotion Policy for ‘Credit’ Courses

The grades received by the student at the end of a course will be based on the following percentages:

Students receiving 59 percent or less in any course must retake that course and receive a Course complete grade or a higher grade in order to progress to the next course in the program. Full tuition fee must be paid for any course that needs to be retaken.

If a student believes their grade does not accurately reflect their performance, they should first contact their teacher to discuss. If they are unable to resolve the issue with their teacher, students can send an email to attendance@shankarmahadevanacademy.com and should include their name, course, teacher, and the reason they feel the grade is incorrect. Grade disputes must be received within one week of course completion.

Transcripts

Any student who completes all requirements of at least one credit and/or non-credit course/s will be able to download a transcript of such courses from the Learning Management System (LMS) portal issued by Shankar Mahadevan Academy. The transcript consists of date and time of completion, course code, course name, Instructor name, and the grades where appropriate. This will be digitally signed by founders – Dr. Shankar Mahadevan and Sridhar Ranganathan.

If there is an error in the transcript, please write toattendance@shankarmahadevanacademy.comfor corrections.

• If the student wishes to spend more time on specific concepts or if they have missed any classes.
• Teachers can recommend add on classes to students to bring them up to speed.

A mutually convenient time slot will be scheduled for add-on classes. If the student fails to attend a scheduled add-on class, there will be no refunds or rescheduling of the add-on class(es).

Students will not be required to purchase addon classes for these courses (HV 100A, HV100B, HV100C, HV100D, HV101, HV102 and CV 100A, CV100B, CV100C, CV100D, CV101, CV102) unless the students has missed classes and have availed their alloted make-up class (if any)

• Students who purchase the “download class recording” add on to record their classes will have access to download all their class recordings.
• Students may purchase class recordings within 30 days from the last class.
• Download of class recordings will be available till 30 days after the last scheduled class.
• In case the student wishes to purchase recordings after 30 days from the last scheduled class, an additional fee of USD 25 / INR 750 / GBP 25 / NZD 32. Requests for retrieval must be made via support.shankarmahadevanacademy.com
• For any class belonging to a multi-student batch, and if the class is conducted, and is missed by one or more students, the Academy will make the class recordings available (for requisite courses) for the student/s to review before the next class.
• The Academy reserves the right to record classes for quality audits and training purposes even if student has not opted for the same.

• The academy offers 1 on 1 virtual class.
• In the 1 on 1 virtual class there will be only one student and the course will be for a period of 12 weeks.
• The 1 on 1 class will be for a duration of 45 minutes and 1 class per week.
• A student who wishes to take 1 on 1 virtual class can opt for the same at the time of enrollment.

• Students can access their learning materials through other devices iPhones, iPads or supported Android devices at the time of enrollment or while the course is in progress via the SMA app.
• Device access includes access to OM Book™, OM Riyaaz, Assignments and Student Practice Recordings.
• The device access will expire 30 days from the last class of the current course.
• To download the apps, go to Apple Store or Play Store
• You need a student login ID and password in order to access your content via the app.

As music is perfected through practice, the Academy encourages students to spend some time every day practicing through the OM Book™. The OM Book™ has Practice Pages (marked in Red in your Table of Contents), which include the video/audio and lyrics/notations along with a recorder in the same page making it convenient for a student to listen practice and record their singing till they get it right. As a student, you can record as many practice recordings as you need, however, the number of recordings you can submit for feedback is limited based on the course. For a 12 session course, the student may submit up to 18 practice recordings. For a 4 session course, the student may submit 6 practice recordings. For self-study courses, the student may submit one practice recording per song.

Access to course materials for Instructor-Led courses will not expire as long as the student is enrolled into any Instructor-Led course in the Academy.
On the expiry of a course, a student can continue to have access to course materials by purchasing continued access or by enrolling to the next course.
Course materials include the OM Book™, any associated Study Plan for the course, assessments and practice recordings. If a student takes a break from the program then access to the course materials of the program will expire 30 days from the last scheduled class of the current batch.
In case you wish to access your course materials 30 days after the last course attended by you, you may purchase extended access for 6 months or a year. To purchase extended access, please log in to your student account, go to “My Courses” and select the course for which you wish to purchase extended access. Click on “Purchase -> Extend Subscription”.

Access to self study courses are based on the subscription period.

A mutually convenient time slot will be scheduled for add-on classes. If the student fails to attend a scheduled add-on class, there will be no refunds or rescheduling of the add-on class(es).

Students who enroll from their local region are expected to take their online classes from their local region only. Our system is designed to flag off and restrict access if the student login location doesn’t match the registered location.

• The pricing is based on the value sought in the local region and the pricing is localized by regions.
• In case of travel the Academy will allow the student to take a maximum of 4 classes outside their local region. If the classes exceed beyond 4 classes for a batch the student will need to pay the entire course fee in the local currency for the classes attended and will be attending. The earlier fees paid will be refunded and the local region will be set to the region where classes are being taken from.
• The course will be scheduled based on the teacher availability, if the teacher is not available at the requested time slot, the Academy will suggest the closest time slot.
• If the student takes over 4 classes outside their local region, they would receive an e-mail requesting them to confirm their current location. In case their current location is different from the location of registration. Not hearing back from the student within 5 days of the email request may lead to suspension of their account.

Once the student has enrolled in the course, the course cannot be transferred to any other individual.

All courses purchased need to start within 91 days from the chosen batch/slot date, post which the course purchase will be forfeited (null and void) and the entire fee will be nonrefundable

Refund requests must be made in writing to billing@shankarmahadevanacademy.com within 24 hours of the first scheduled*class. Refunds will be granted at the discretion of the Academy.

The amount refunded will be based on the following schedule, from the date the written refund request is received by the Academy:

*Scheduled class is the calendar date of the class and this will be the date honored for all refunds whether the actual class takes place or not for various reasons

• In addition to the above, all refunds are subject to a processing fee. The processing fee would vary based on the currency of payment.
  • USD 25
  • INR 750
  • EUR 25
  • GBP 35
  • NZD 32
• The registration fee is non-refundable.
• Refunds for any taxes (GST, etc) would be withheld if the refund is claimed 5 working days after enrolment.
• Re-enrolments are non-refundable and the course start date can be deferred ONLY once not beyond 4 weeks from the preselected (original) start date. The course fee will be forfeited 4 weeks after the original start date.

Before processing withdrawals, we would appreciate any feedback regarding the Academy. This can be emailed to feedback@shankarmahadevanacademy.com

Refund requests for self-study courses must be made in writing to support@shankarmahadevanacademy.com within 48 hours from the time of purchase. If the student has activated one song in the course pack, they would be eligible for a refund of only 50% of the course fee. No refund for students who have activated more than 1 song.

Shankar Mahadevan Academy reserves the right to raise prices at any time. Both current and new students enrolling in courses must pay the current prices in effect at the start of each course term.

• Respect copyright and other intellectual-property rights, such as when copying files or passwords belonging to others.
• Use software in accordance with license restrictions.Identify oneself clearly and accurately in electronic communication.
• Follow proper security procedures, for example by keeping login and password information private, changing passwords frequently, and maintaining backup copies of important files.
• Use Academy technology and resources as intended, for learning of course curriculum.
• Cooperate with investigations by the Academy, either of technical problems or of possible unauthorized or irresponsible use.

The following are considered serious violations of the Academy’s policies and at the Academy’s sole discretion are grounds for immediate suspension of a Academy’s access privileges, disciplinary action, suspension of communication, and other sanctions:

• Distributing or making one’s login ID or password or another person’s login ID or password available to others.
• Distributing or making Academy content, software, or resources available to others.
• Attempting to evade, disable, or “crack” password or other security provisions, or assisting others in doing so.
• Modifying or damaging information without authorization, including but not limited to altering data, introducing viruses, or simply damaging files.
• Using Academy resources for unlawful purposes or for other purposes not specifically permitted by the Academy.
• Posting or electronically distributing any unlawful, threatening, obscene, profane, hateful, or otherwise objectionable material of any kind on the Academy website or to members of the Academy community, including without limitation, any material that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability.
• Improper use of copyrighted or proprietary materials, with the exception of content for which the author has given express written authorization for online distribution. Such content must be clearly marked with copyright information including the source, author, and year.

Shankar Mahadevan Academy, Online Music Book, and OM Book™ are trademarks of Clood On Musica, Inc. You agree not to display the above or use in any manner without written permission.

Any concerns or questions can be addressed to our support email: support@shankarmahadevanacademy.com

At Shankar Mahadevan Academy, we respect your privacy and are committed to handling your personal information responsibly. Upon your request to delete your account, we will erase all personal identifying information, including your name, contact details, and any associated account credentials, from our systems.

However, the academy reserves the right to retain anonymized records of your class journey and progress for educational, administrative, and reporting purposes. These records will not contain any personally identifiable information and will solely be used to improve our services and ensure compliance with institutional standards.