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 12th 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.