Month: January 2020

A basic requirement of every school is to get affiliated with an education board. Schools have different options available including the main ones like the CBSE, ICSE, International board and state boards. Most top schools prefer CBSE board. There are plenty of reasons for this choice. This article lists some of the main reasons why CBSE board is preferred by top schools in India.

Curriculum

The curriculum and content therein prescribed by the CBSE board is quite progressive. The top schools want to offer a curriculum that is updated and in sync with the present times. Parents are quite aware and conscious these days and they choose schools after taking a look at their curriculum. CBSE board allows the schools to be progressive in their content and curriculum.

Teaching Methods

CBSE schools in India keep updating their teaching methods according to the changing needs and times. This is possible because CBSE board continuously works on its guidelines. They keep doing their research and adopt best practices from around the world. They also try to integrate technology in their teaching methods.

Parents’ Choice

Most parents these days prefer CBSE board for their children and hence seek admissions in CBSE schools. Top schools in India want to gain the confidence of parents and therefore get affiliated with the CBSE board as it is the trusted board by most parents.

Advantageous for Franchising

Nowadays, most of the top CBSE schools in India offer their franchise for schools. Franchising is one of the expansion strategies used to reach to a wider geographical area. Since, CBSE is a central board of education; there are no restrictions in opening CBSE school franchises in any region in India. One easily gets due permissions and licenses to start a CBSE school franchise.

Focus on Overall Development

Any school that wants be in the top 10 list of schools in India has to offer world-class education that builds skills of students. Rote learning and studying just for examinations are not the features of top schools. Topmost schools focus on overall development with importance being given to mental, physical and socio-emotional development. Parents do not choose a school blindly for their children. They consider all aspects before putting their child in any school. Since CBSE board lays emphasis on holistic development, top schools choose CBSE board to gain that advantage.

Standardisation Across Geographical Boundaries

CBSE is a central board of education and not limited to any one state. So, it becomes easy for CBSE schools in India to standardize their curriculum and teaching learning practices across different geographical boundaries. Top CBSE schools such as The Millennium Schools and Millennium World Schools have their school franchises in more than 40 cities in India. However, they have standardized curriculum and processes in every school.

Assessment Methods

The way teaching methods are up-to-date with the recent trends, so is the assessment practices in CBSE schools in India. The focus of assessments in CBSE board is not just checking factual knowledge of students but rather gauge their comprehension level and ability to apply knowledge in real life situations. This is what enables students to make sense of content taught at school level.

These are some of the reasons why top schools in India are affiliated with the CBSE board. However, this does not indicate that the other boards of education are not good enough. Every board of education has their advantages and limitations.

Every high school or senior secondary school is required to be affiliated with a board of education. There are several boards of education but the main ones being the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), and the state boards of education. These days the International Board of education is also available in some schools. The boards of education lay down standard guidelines with respect to the curriculum, pedagogy, examinations system and other aspects of the school. When parents select a school for their child, they consider many aspects and one of them is the board of education that the school is affiliated with. It is a common notion amongst parents that the ICSE board is relatively difficult than the other boards. The preferred choice of board amongst most parents is CBSE board. This article lists some main reasons why parents like to choose CBSE schools in India.

Curriculum

CBSE schools adopt and follow a curriculum based on the guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005). The curriculum is student-friendly that allows students to explore the content in a contextual manner. The content is simple yet engaging.

Focus on Skill Development

Most CBSE schools in Indiafocus on skills development rather than mere academics. There is no denying that academics are an important part of any school and given priority. However, there are options of vocational skills training in higher classes in top schools in India. This is included in the school curriculum to help them become self-reliant after school, if they are unable to continue higher education due to any reason. Also, students can choose the field of vocational skill and pursue higher education in that particular stream.

Preparation for Entrance Examinations

Our education system in India requires students to appear for entrance examinations to seek admissions in graduation level courses and other professional courses. These entrance examinations have a pre-determined pattern including objective type questions mostly. The speed of attempting the questions is also important as there is quite a large chunk of questions that need to be completed in a limited time frame. It is believed that students studying in CBSE schools have a better chance of clearing entrance examinations at a later stage. This is probably because of the type of curriculum and evaluation system of CBSE board that develops skills in students enabling them to score better in entrance examinations.

Holistic Development

The CBSE board has laid down guidelines for schools to give importance to the overall development of students. Mere academic achievement is not the sole aim of CBSE schools in India. There are examples of great CBSE schools such as The Millennium Schools and Millennium World Schools across India that have an excellent and unique curriculum emphasizing on holistic development.

These are some of the main reasons why CBSE board is preferred by parents in India. Further, most of the top schools in India are CBSE schools. Millennium schools have presence in over 40 cities pan India and they are ranked in the top 10 CBSE schools in India. They rightly deserve the topmost place in the list of CBSE schools in India as they truly focus on holistic development of each child with the firm belief and effort to nurture individual potential of every child.

There are different aspects of a complete education. This includes mental development, physical development, and socio-emotional development. This is the reason why schools have different activities other than teaching academic subjects. The aim of education is not to impart knowledge related to various subjects but develop the capacities of every child. Sports and games are an important part of school education.

One of the main purposes of having sports and games in schools is physical development of children. However, sports and games are not limited to merely physical aspects. An individual gets to learn several life skills through sports and games. Working together as a team, sportsman spirit, confidence, determination, the will to go on and never give up and so on are some of the things that a child learns through the medium of sports and games. Most CBSE schools in India offer a variety of indoor and outdoor sports and games.

One of the popular sayings, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is absolutely true. Any form of physical activity is essential for every child. It can take the form of walking, jogging, running, athletics, or any sport or game. Every child needs to be involved in something or the other. Further, it usually is a myth when parents think that their child has no interest in physical activity or sport. Children are usually very active in their early years, using their excessive energy in some form of physical activity. Teachers and parents must try to find out what the child takes interest in. It is not necessary that all children will take interest in a similar form of physical activity or sport. Children must be exposed to several sports through videos, pictures, discussions if demonstration or experiential learning is not feasible. Only if the child knows about different sports and games, s/he will be able to develop interest.

Children must also be encouraged to get themselves involved in any physical activity. The best way to encourage children to do something is to model it. Children love to ape adults around them and they get inspired too. So, if adults around children are physically active, they are more likely to be physically active too. Most children show interest in athletics or any sport or game at an early age. These signs must be recognized by parents and teachers. Teachers must have discussions about sports and games and inspire children by talking about great sportspersons. From an early age, if children are motivated to imbibe certain qualities then they are more likely to work towards it.

Top schools in India offer a multitude of sports and games to the children. One of such group of schools is Millennium Schools. They have more than 40 schools across India. Their schools are known as The Millennium Schools and Millennium World Schools. Their focus is on holistic development and nurturing individual potential of each child. They recognise the importance of sports and games in education and development of children and hence offer a host of opportunities. Apart from giving opportunities in the school, they help students to pursue their interest after school hours as well. Millennium schools are one of the best CBSE schools in India.

CCentral Board of Secondary Education and India Certificate of Secondary Education are two centralized boards of education in India. The CBSE and ICSE boards have thousands of schools across the country affiliated to them and many times it is very difficult for students and parents to decide on the best possible option. There are many subtle differences between the two boards of education and it is important to know the differences between the two before making the decision. The following are the differences between CBSE and ICSE boards of education in India.

Academic Level

The academic level, in general, plays an important role in deciding whether to choose CBSE schools in India or ICSE schools. In general, the consensus is that ICSE schools have a harder curriculum in comparison to CBSE schools. The academic level is higher in ICSE schools and subjects are taught in much more detail in comparison to CBSE schools. The examinations are tougher and it is much more difficult to score well in ICSE than CBSE.

English Language Education

English is a global language and is the language used in both CBSE board and ICSE board of education but English is given specific importance in ICSE schools in comparison to CBSE schools. A greater emphasis is laid on the detailed study of English as a language and spoken English as well as reading and writing levels of English at ICSE board schools is much higher than CBSE schools. However, CBSE schools focus on the functional use of English language than the literature portion in ICSE schools.

Differences in Learning Methods

CBSE schools and ICSE schools have completely different curriculums. This means that CBSE focuses more onsubjects like mathematics and science whereas ICSE schools are more focused on languages,  social studies and humanities subjects. CBSE structure is much more compact than the ICSE structure with fewer subjects and the academic level is slightly easier than the ICSE board. The CBSE schools have more emphasis on fewer concepts with learning connected to real life situations and examples. On the other hand ICSE has a lengthy syllabus due to which the application based learning as suggested by the board often gets overlooked by the schools as they are more concerned with completing the syllabus than conceptual understanding and learning.

Recognition of the Board

The recognition of the board plays a critical role in making the decision about which board of education to choose while selecting from the top schools in India. The CBSE board is recognized by the central government and is controlled and managed by the government. ICSE is not under the control of the government and is a private board of education in India. There are many more CBSE schools in India in comparison to ICSE schools which mean that the geographical reach of the CBSE board is wider than that of the ICSE board in India. The brand recognition of the CBSE board is also higher than that of the ICSE board in India.

Entrance Exams & Scholarship Exams

CBSE schools have a curriculum that is more aligned to central entrance examinations after standard 12^th for many professional degrees like medicine and engineering. In general, CBSE school graduates do better in these examinations and scholarship exams are more suited to students of the ICSE board.

It is difficult to choose between the ICSE board and the CBSE board but the listed differences gives a detailed idea about the merits and demerits of both the boards of education. Millennium World School Bengaluru North is affiliated to the CBSE board of education and has a unique curriculum which emphasizes holistic development of a child.

FCentral Board Secondary Education is a central government-managed system of education in India that provides a structure, curriculum, guidelines and framework to thousands of schools affiliated to this board of education. This is known to be a student-friendly board of education that provides emphasis on learning instead of just passing examinations and moving from one grade to another every year. The CBSE examination system is complex and not just based on mugging up lines from textbooks. The following are some of the details of the CBSE examination system in India.

Subjects and Streams

The basic subjects till standard 10^th in CBSE board affiliated schools include mathematics, science, social studies, English, and Hindi to name a few. After the 10^th standard, the CBSE board gives children the choice between the science, commerce and humanities streams which have different subjects which children can choose in different schools.

Classroom Activity

Classroom activity is included as a part of the overall grade for a subject in the CBSE examination system. This means that a percentage of the grade is calculated based on classroom work and a part of it is based on tests and examinations. The following are details about the classroom activities that form part of the CBSE examination system:

Individual Work

Subjects are taught interactively and individual work is part of the CBSE examination system. This includes projects, recitations, charts and models that children create as a part of the classroom activity during the school. CBSE schools in India usually have a rigorous curriculum which includes individual classroom work for enhancement of skills of students

Group Work

CBSE examination structure is designed in such a way that children learn how to work well together in a group. Projects and group presentations are done by students together and this builds team spirit and also teaches children how to work with each other harmoniously.

Term Examinations

There are tests and examinations which the students have to pass for getting the final grade in every subject and also from passing from one grade to another. Up to a certain grade, CBSE students cannot stay behind or fail a grade and grading system is given from A1 to D2 and the E grade is the failing grade. The grading system is based on a positional system intop CBSE schools in India. This means that the top students of the class get A1 grade and then the grade is positional.

Board Exams in 10^th and 12^th Level

CBSE has two-board level examinations in the 10^th standard and 12^th standard at the end of the year.The 10^th standard is a major milestone in a student’s life as the student moves from secondary education to senior secondary education. The subjects in standard 11^th and 12^th change depending on the streams of study which are science, commerce, and humanities. 12^th standard board exams have many diverse subjects and they are usually chosen depending on the further education avenues for students in the CBSE board.

The listed CBSE examination system shows that learning is given importance in the CBSE system so that children understand the subjects and properly learn in school.

However, not all schools affiliated to the CBSE board give importance to learning and skill development. Though they follow the rules of the board, they do not emphasize on the learning aspects. Hence, it becomes imperative for parents to know about the school and its evaluation system before admitting their child. One example is Millennium World School Bengaluru North. This newly opened school belongs to the one of the leading brands of schools in India. Their curriculum and evaluation system are developed on the belief that each child is unique and has an inherent potential. Hence, the school provides an environment for the child to grow and nurture her talent. The evaluation system follows the CBSE pattern but includes a variety of activities and opportunities for children to learn and enhance their learning.