Won’t make Std X exam optional: ICSE

Even as the ICSE schools in the country welcome the idea of having a common syllabus across boards, they are vehemently opposed to Union education minister Kapil Sibal’s suggestion of making Std X board exams optional.

On Wednesday, officials from the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) announced that ICSE schools won’t do away with Std X board exams. The council also announced that the curriculum for ICSE schools set for a major change from the coming academic year.

Gerry Arathoon, additional secretary and officiating chief executive and secretary of CISCE, said, “Std X boards allow students to experience a public exam before taking the Std XII exam, which is important for them in the professional sphere. Std XII board exams are the gateway to higher and university education, and need to be treated seriously.”

Arathoon added, “Leaving a student’s evaluation in the hands of his teachers is a crime. They should be given importance, but not the complete responsibility, as they have limitations. It is observed that though the CBSE board has made exams optional, a significantly large number of students still want to take them.”

Arathoon was interacting with the media at the 53rd
Annual Conference of Association of Schools for Indian School Certificate. The three-day conference, organised by Ryan International Group of Institutions at Powai, was inaugurated by the governor K Sankarnarayanan on Wednesday.

The council is, however, forthcoming about the curriculum changes proposed by the Centre. “We are doing away with environment education from Std IX to XII, and the content will be fused in other subjects. From the next academic year, the curriculum for both ICSE and ISC (Std XII equivalent) will change,” said Arathoon.

For ICSE, the curriculum will change for subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, commerce studies, geography, economics, economics applications, home sciences, etc. While in the ISC, subjects to undergo changes include physics, chemistry, biology, geography, sociology, economics, biotechnology and home science.

The council appeared gung-ho about a common curriculum across the country in maths, science and commerce in Std XI and XII. With the exclusion of environment education from the core subjects, ICSE students will also have six subjects to read.

“Though the changes will be introduced in the syllabus from 2011, the students will appear for the board exams for the new syllabus only in 2013,” added Arathoon.

The curriculum for students from Std I to VIII in ICSE schools is also set to change. “The inter-state board representatives are working on it. The curriculum for subjects read in the lower classes need to incorporate the local aspects as well,” said an official. The details of the changes in lower classes are, however, not known.

Speaking about the admission-related problems faced by students in Maharashtra, officials from the ICSE board claimed that they were not included in the decision-making process by the state.

Arathoon said, “We were never called for discussions on percentile or the best-five issues. The state government has never bothered to take our opinion on these important decisions.” He refused to talk about the best-five issue as the matter is subjudice.