New ICSE syllabus rolls out: mixed reactions from the student community

By: Nancy Dutta

Source- The Hindu

Does the change in the syllabus will help to crack competitive entrance examinations like medical and engineering?

Nobody still knows the answer yet. The year 2018 has begun and the revision in the syllabus, curriculum structure and training methods of Indian School Certificate (ISC) and Indian Certificate for School Education (ICSE) is being introduced.

The moment a student reaches class 10, parents start to worry about getting their child admitted in appropriate streams and the boards too for their senior secondary education. A wide-spread belief among both parents and students is that getting admission into schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will make the possibilities of higher education brighter, especially in the coveted professional courses.  

The common perception is that CBSE students perform better in competitive entrance examinations as compared to those studied under the ICS board or other similar boards. 

To break this misconception, there have been modifications made in the syllabus and new policies have been laid down. The 58th National Conference of  Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate (ASISC), an association schools following ISC and ICSE curriculum, with thw approval of Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the apex council which conducting  Indian School Certificate (ISC) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) has decided that there will be changes in the ISC and ICSE syllabi to lighten the burden for the students and also make them on par with students following other syllabi. 

The Council decided to change the syllabi for classes 9, 10, and 12 to ensure that more students crack competitive exams. This year, the students will appear for examinations with a new syllabus that will include question paper according to the new structure. The subjects like History, Geography, Mathematics and Physics will have changed syllabi. Even the question paper will be prepared in line with that of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). “Now it will be quite easier to crack the competition. Thanks to the council for bringing out the new policy as there will be now all NCERT questions”, said Nandini Rana, a former student of Sacred Heart High School, Himachal Pradesh who studied under the old ICSE syllabus.

However, there are other concern as well. Another student who recently completed the Senior Secondary examinations under ICSE from the same school thinks that the ICSE syllabus is good in terms of knowledge, but not effective in terms of cracking competative examinations. "Though the syllabus of ICSE board is too vast and lengthy which provides us with abundance of knowledge but it becomes completely out of concept in cracking entrance exams. Students have to drop an year or months to understand the basic concept of the syllabi for the medical and engineering entrances”, she said.

All these new policies and the changes in the syllabi have been made to provide a strong foundation for students appearing for the competitive exams such as AIPMT or JEE. So far, the schools had the freedom to decide the course content from nursery to class 10. Now all the ICSE affiliated schools will have to follow a uniform syllabus.

 “CBSE is all time best. Because it has all the keys to every type of competitive examination. And ICSE and ICS are just a burden on children” said Sukanya Kanyar, a student from Himachal Pradesh who was studying under ICSE syllabus but later changed to CBSE board.