ISC maths, science syllabus ''aligned'' with CBSE

Kolkata: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is "aligning" the science and maths syllabus for its ISC (Class 12) in sync with CBSE board, to "remove the perception" among parents and students that the latter prepares students for medical and engineering entrance examinations, a board official said here on Tuesday.

There will be an alignment of ISC science and maths syllabus from 2018 examinations, "totally in tune" with JEE Mains and Advanced and NEET, said CISCE chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon.

"There is a perception that students need to join CBSE schools in class 11 and 12 to clear the competitive examinations conducted by them since they believe it prepares them for these examinations. This is a wrong conception as all boards follow a common core curriculum. To remove that perception, we have aligned the syllabus in tune with CBSE.

"This means that the chapters which are taught in class 11 in CBSE will be taught in class 11 under ISC board as well," he added.

At the ISC level, the Council has been following the Common Core Curriculum prescribed by the Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) for physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics since the academic year 2011.

"All boards are following the common curriculum. We have to convince the parents and students that it`s not only CBSE, but all boards are preparing students for entrance examinations," he said.

Since the question pattern will change, in keeping with the modified syllabus, specimen papers are being prepared and will be made available to schools by the end of June, Arathoon said.

In addition, he said the Council is designing a broad-based curriculum for pre-primary to class 8 which conforms to global standards of academic excellence and will enable students to be well-prepared to derive advantage of the ICSE and ISC syllabi.