CBSE vs. ICSE – It’s a war out there !!

There is a raging battle of sorts in the education fraternity. The two most reputed boards viz Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council of Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) are at loggerheads regarding the grading system introduced by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Kapil Sibal. The nine-point grading system has come under flak from the CISCE chairperson, Neil O’Brien who has openly condemned the new system saying that their board is in no mood to follow the directive and awarding grades instead of marks.

The basic logic put forth is the unacceptance of the colleges to give recognition to the grading system after Class XII. As after Class X, the schools will again have to rivet back to the marks system due to the universities not giving grades any recognition, so there lies no point in adopting the grading system in Class X in the first place. The confusion over awarding grades instead of marks is also supported by the principals of ICSE schools in the NCR region.

The stress being laid by the CISCE Board is on the uniformity of pattern to be adopted by all schools, colleges and universities alike. Today, approximately 1,600 schools are affiliated with CISCE, while the majority lies with the CBSE with more than 9,000 schools under its affiliation. Moreover, the CBSE has planned to go ahead with the HRD’s directive. In view of the prevalent scenario of chaos among the various boards itself on the directives issued, the students are in affix as of now and only the future holds the key to the way forward!!