5. b. Discover Secondary Education-Different Educational bodies

In our country, education is provided by Public as well as the Private schools. At the class 10 level, the examination is conducted by the centralized bodies, called Examination boards.

The main Boards are:

1.    Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)

2.    Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE)

3.    State Education Boards (SEBs)

Out of these, CBSE and ICSE conduct examinations at the national level while SEBs conduct these examinations at the state levels. Their syllabi and teaching methodology differ from each other considerably.

CBSE

·     The board conducts two examinations — the All India Secondary School Examination, AISSE (Class X) and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination, AISSCE (Class XII).

·       CBSE is recognized by The Government of India.

·       CBSE syllabus is a combination of textbook studies, assignments, worksheets and project work. The student gets equipped to face difficult entrance examinations of professional institutions. CBSE curriculum is quite organized.

·       The emphasis is given to logical reasoning and developing the applied methods of education.

·       Focus is on active learning, especially of Mathematics and Science subjects.

·  Their syllabus is designed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

·  CBSE allows private students along with regular students to appear in their examinations.

·       20000+ schools in India and 200+ schools in 28 foreign countries are affiliated to CBSE. Therefore, in case of a change in location the student studying in CBSE schools does not suffer because of the same curriculum all over the country and even in some foreign countries. 

·       CBSE supports both English and Hindi languages.

·       CBSE emphasizes on the holistic development of the student.

ICSE

·   Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is in charge of conducting the Class 10 and Class 12 examinations.

·       ICSE is not recognized by The Government of India but recognized globally.

·       In ICSE, the syllabus is bit more elaborate as compared to CBSE. However, it helps in building a strong foundation. It is suitable for advanced studies in educational institutions abroad.

·       ICSE supports only English as the basic language and for the medium of instruction.

·       The ICSE students are required to develop analytical skills, problem-solving abilities and practical knowledge.

·       Focus is on balanced and active learning of Science, Arts, and the languages.

·       Here, internal assessments and lab work are very important.  

·       Overall scores are inclusive of those obtained in the practical tests.

·    The students opting for a career in English Language and Literature should prefer ICSE.

·    ICSE board has many combinations of the subjects to offer to students- such as computer science, environmental science and even interior design.

·     For a student desirous of appearing in ICSE examination, it is compulsory to have studied in ICSE School.

State Boards

·       State Boards are recognized by the Government of India.

·       Their syllabi are comparatively easier as compared to CBSE and ICSE. However, the students face problems while appearing in the entrance examinations of professional institutions.

·       Their syllabi are designed by the Department of Education of their particular states. Therefore, in case of the change of location to a different state can prove to be quite challenging for the students.

·       The State Boards give more emphasis to their regional languages while English is an optional subject. The student, who finds English to be difficult, can write their papers in the Regional language also. 

·       Their curriculum is less loaded as compared to the CBSE and ICSE.

·       Fees of the schools affiliated to the State Boards are lesser than those affiliated with CBSE and ICSE boards.

·       Even though CBSE and ICSE students are considered to be more competent as compared to the students of the state boards but if varies from student to student. Some students of the state boards prove to be mighty successful in their professional lives. 

Besides these boards, there are some other educational bodies and institutions as well. Their details are as follows:

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

·    It is run by the National Board of Education under the Ministry of Human Resources Development of the Government of India.

·  This body conducts two examinations- Secondary Examination (Class 10) and Senior Secondary Examination (Class 12) on All India basis.

·       It also imparts Vocational Education.

·       Its courses are equivalent to CBSE and are offered in rural areas.

·       The combination of the subjects is quite varied.

·   It is very good for the students who have to resort to home education due to various reasons.

Islamic Madrasas

·       Some of these are autonomous institutions.

·     These are also affiliated to: The state boards or Darul Uloom Deoband or Darul Uloom Nadwtul Ulama.

·       They offer education to the students for Islamic studies and other subjects.

·      The medium of instruction is mostly Urdu though they are also given the knowledge of English.

Autonomous schools

The most prominent ones are as follows:

1.    Woodstock School, Landour, Uttarakhand:

·       It is about 150+ years old school.

·       It runs American Co-educational program with US accreditation through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

·       It also offers courses in Indian Classical Music and Dances.

·       It offers US advanced placement program.

·       Grade 10 students also take the Cambridge University IGCSE examinations.

·       It has been officially accredited as International Baccalaureate (IB) World School.

2.   Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Puducherry

·       This school is run on the spiritual guidelines of Maharshi Aurobindo.

·       It has got Schools named Sri Aurobindo International School in Hyderabad and Mother’s International School in New Delhi.

3.   Patha Bhavan, Santiniketan

·       It was established in 1901 by Nobel Laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore to educate the students amongst the serene natural surroundings. It has produced scholars of International repute like Mr. Amartya Sen.

4.   Ananda Marga Gurukula, Jamalpur, Bihar

·       It was established in 1955 by Mr. P R Sarkar as a spiritual institution with courses in Tantra, yogic science.

·       However, the organization gained a bad name later because of involvement in some suspected terrorist activities.

International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge International Examinations (CIE):

There are some private schools that have dual affiliation with one of the School Education boards of India and International Baccalaureate Program and/ or Cambridge International Examinations. For a list of schools connected with IB programs, please connect through this link: https://www.ibo.org/programmes/find-an-ib-school/ and for Indian schools connected with CIE programs please surf the Internet through this link: https://www.schoolmykids.com/education/list-cie-cambridge-schools-in-india

International schools

·       There are some International schools which offer 10th and 12th standard examinations under the International Baccalaureate, Cambridge Senior Secondary Examination systems or under their home nations’ school boards.

·       These are run by foreign embassies, High commission, and some expatriate communities.

In the concluding article of this series we will explore curricula of different examination boards and other details.

 The author has referred to the following websites for developing part of the content.

https://www.edsys.in/difference-between-cbse-icse-state-boards/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India

#SecondaryEducation #DiscoverSecondaryEducation #CBSEExaminations #ICSEExaminations #StateEducationBoardsExaminations #NIOS #IslamicMadrasas #InternationalBaccalaureateExaminations #CamridgeInternationalExaminations #InternationalSchools #AutonomousSchools

The author, R .C. Verma, has written this series of articles about Secondary Education giving comprehensive details. This is the second article of the series.