CBSE, C/ICSE OR NEB?
The
months of March and April pose a number of serious questions before the students
and their parents in the Indian subcontinent about the right choice of 10+2
colleges and the programme they offer under different streams like Science and
Management. A sizeable number of secondary school graduates, who for several
reasons, also look for other vocational training and skill development
programmes which are provided by non-academic institutes like CTEVT, National
Skill Development Agency (NSDA, India), Bhaktapur Polytechnic Institute, Nepal,
Balaju Engineering, Nepal, etc. These vocational training institutes are providing training and skill development
packages like Civil Engineering, steel fixers, flight attendants, PCL Nursing,
interior designing, waiter, bartender, cooking and bakery, housekeeping,
fashion designing, carpentry, computer hardware and networking, application and
web developing,
electric wiring, plumbing, auto mechanics, scaffolding, farming and
agriculture, medical transcription, repair and maintenance of electronics,
transport auto mechanics, security and so on.
Without veering away, let’s
see what pros and cons we find under the general observation of the CBSE, ICSE, and
NEB of Education at upper secondary level in India and Nepal.
CBSE or ICSE?
Central Board of Secondary Education or Indian Certificate of
Secondary Education Boards
The CBSE and the ICSE
Grade 11-12 are A-levels and IBDP equivalent programmes. The CBSE is developed
and implemented by the Government of India all over the country. However, there are
parallel state boards that run their own curriculum but most of the content is
the same as the CBSE except for the local vernacular languages. The materials
for most of these state boards are designed by the NCERT (National Council of
Educational Research and Training). The CBSE curriculum is comparatively easier
than that of the CICSE/ICSE Board. Although, both the boards are equally recognized
all over the world, the ICSE seems to have an upper hand in regards to
enrollment in foreign colleges and universities. The CBSE board on the other
hand is stronger and more in demand at the regional level because of its top niche
in the national level competitive examinations for technical fields like
medicine and engineering. The ICSE curricula focus on all the subjects
including arts and sciences while the CBSE curricula give more priority to
sciences and mathematics to enable students to qualify for NEET(Medical), JEE
(Engineering), IIT, etc. The ICSE graduates have a better prospect of enrolling
in foreign colleges or universities as they perform better in diagnostic tests
like SAT, ACT, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, etc. for their verbal reasoning is far
stronger compared to the CBSE students, and even qualify for the UPSC, SPSC. But
that does not mean the CBSE graduates are underperformers.
Result-wise, we see the ICSE students
performing better in board examinations which accounts for almost 98% while the
CBSE stands at about 92% over the past several years. Students find the ICSE
more rigorous and vast than the CBSE as the CBSE implements its 50% curriculum for internal and
the rest for external examinations, the ICSE implements only 20% of its curriculum as internal and the
rest is administered as external examinations.
When we see the expenses and other
accessibilities, the CBSE is more approachable to students from all financial
backgrounds and its medium of instruction is both Hindi and English which
is not so in the ICSE board--it is only English. The ICSE board has almost 20
times less affiliation, like most convent schools and expensive private schools
and run it, than that of the CBSE board. One cannot have access to the ICSE in
all the corners of all the states. It is more available in metropolis rather
than far-flung districts in the country. It is also more expensive as it is a
private board and has better facilities for its students and the staff. It may
go beyond 100K in metropolis whereas the CBSE may shrink at 50-70K a year in
the same geography.
When you look at the materials and resources,
the CBSE has the better advantage as it extends to almost all the states, districts
and even 25 other foreign countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi
Arabia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Nepal and so on. The ICSE also has its franchise in
several foreign countries like Singapore, the UAE, Qatar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bhutan,
etc. One can find the bulk of online resources and materials both free and paid for
the CBSE and so is the availability of professionals which is not so
pertaining to the ICSE curricula.
Unlike the A-level Programmes, these boards
have a pretty streamlined curriculum that does not offer as many choices from
interdisciplinary fields of studies. Students in these boards stick to one
specially designed programme that specifically leads to a particular career
path like engineering, medical, liberal arts, ICT, etc.
