The Real Indian IQ

[G.Subramaniam]

http://educationworldonline.net/index.ph...re-id-3054



QES also reveals wide differences between the learning outcomes of students of the country’s numerous (34) examination boards. While students from CBSE and CISCE — pan-India exam boards with 10,000 and 1,800 affiliated schools countrywide — performed best, the test scores of students from private schools affiliated with the Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu Matriculation and Maharashtra state boards were significantly lower. Among the two pan-India boards, CISCE-affiliated school students showed significantly better learning outcomes than CBSE students.



The better scores of CISCE school students are attributed to this exam-ination board’s independence from government and its superior humanities syllabus. Unlike CBSE, which affiliates diverse schools (government, army, rural, etc), CISCE attracts the country’s top-ranked metro and boarding schools as affiliates. “Unlike CBSE, which has to be more mindful of government policies and rules, CISCE is an auto-nomous examination board. Whenever there’s government interference, it curbs the creativity of educators who need freedom to conceptualise and implement what’s best for students. CISCE schools don’t carry government baggage. The beneficiaries of CISCE’s autonomy are students of affiliated schools,” says Carl Laurie principal of the CISCE-affiliated Christ Church School, Mumbai.



Vivek Ramchandani, the well-known Delhi/Dehradun-based education cons-ultant and former founder principal of the top-ranked The Shri Ram School, Delhi and hitherto the Nairobi-based advisor of the Aga Khan Education Trust, believes there’s a philosophical difference of outlook between the two all-India exam boards. “CISCE is an independent, forward looking board, strong in the humanities and English literature. Consequently, its curriculum is broad-based and designed to provoke critical thinking and applic-ation. On the other hand, CBSE is a government supervised, if not cont-rolled, board. Its bias is toward STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects which require some rote learning. Though recently CBSE has initiated some significant exam and assessment reforms, its affiliated schools are struggling to implement them. But board affiliation is not as critical a factor as is the willingness and ability of school managements to deliver curriculums effectively in classrooms. Good schools transform board syllabuses into excellent curriculums which encourage learning through critical thinking and application skills,” says Ramchandani.