CBSE vs ICSE

There are various educational boards present in India for the secondary study of the teenagers like state government boards, CBSE, ICSE, and NIOS. The two main boards of the country are CBSE and ICSE. CBSE stands for the Central Board of Secondary Education whereas ICSE stands for Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. Both the boards are very popular in terms of study throughout the nation. Both of the institutes have different functionality, standards and abilities regarding education. Most parents opt one of the boards from these two. Before choosing the board for your child you must know about the pros and cons of these boards so that you can make a good choice as according to your child’s abilities as all the kids have different aptitude level and aspirations.

Firstly, we will discuss the merits and demerits of the CBSE and afterwards we will move further to the pros and cons of the ICSE.

Advantages and Disadvantages of CBSE

In India, Central Board of Secondary Education is one of the boards of education for high school level education. It is controlled and managed by the Union Government of India. All schools affiliated to CBSE strictly follow the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) curriculum. There are around 19,316 schools in India and 211 schools in 25 different foreign countries affiliated to the CBSE board. Also, AISSCE (All India Senior School Certificate Examination) is conducted by the CBSE for the 12th-grade students.

Advantages of the CBSE

There are various advantages of the CBSE board education for a student as the listed following:

• The biggest advantage of this system is that near about all the main entrance exams to the professional streams are based upon the CBSE syllabus which gives a huge benefit to the CBSE student as he/she already studied all that topics in their school course.
• The study of CBSE board is easy compared to other boards which result in the stress-free study environment for the students. Moreover, the secondary level subjects like physics, biology and chemistry all come under the science subject and also history, geography, civics and economics come under the social study subject which lowers the number of the subject and makes study easier.
• Easy accessibility of the CBSE schools. As CBSE is quite popular board in India that is why there are numbers of schools located over every corner of the country. It makes very easy to find CBSE affiliated school, no matters from which city you belong to. Also, parents having transferrable jobs can choose this board for their children’s study as it is easily accessible throughout the country.
• The main concentration of CBSE is on the mathematics and science so that student can easily understand the subjects when goes for the professional studies.
• The educational certificate provided by the CBSE is valid throughout the country. So, the student can able do job or study on the basis of his previous study which is supported by the CBSE. Also, the board follows a concentric curriculum.
• As discussed earlier, CBSE is approved by the Govt. of India and affiliated to a large number of schools including central schools in India and is also recognized by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).
• CBSE also runs the various talent search examinations in the country and provide the scholarship to the deserving candidates and the syllabus of these examinations are also less. So, the candidates having talent can take benefit of these schemes.

Disadvantages of the CBSE

There also some of the disadvantage of this board as described below:

• In CBSE, there is less focus given on giving practical knowledge to students. Also, the CBSE syllabus does not concentrate on core English knowledge as the other competitors do, and the board chooses to put more importance on the disciplines of mathematics and science.
• The CBSE syllabus deals only in the theoretical manner in all the subjects and there is no emphasis given on real-life concepts behind the science. In spite of the syllabus being application oriented, it does not offer room for effective understanding.

Advantages and Disadvantages of ICSE

The ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) was first incepted by the Local Examinations Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. There is a great difference between the study of the ICSE and the CBSE especially in terms of contents and volume. The board also conducts the ICSE examination at the end of the 10th and 12th grade. There are various merits and demerits of this system which we are going to discuss.

Advantages of the ICSE

As all the systems have some benefits as well as drawbacks, similarly ICSE also have some pros and cons. Some of the merits of this system are listed below:

• The syllabus made by the ICSE is comprehensive. All the subjects have given equal importance in their respected syllabus.
• The certification provided by the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education board after completion of the study is highly recognized all over the world, specifically by overseas educational institutes and universities as compared to the central board’s local margin.
• The learners who want to pursue their careers in the fields of management and humanities will find the curriculum followed under ICSE to be more interesting and challenging.
• The ICSE put more concentration on English in comparison of other educational boards; students from this board do have a slight edge over other students in exams like TOEFL, IELTS as their grip over the English language is more.
• The ICSE gives importance to the internal assessments for the better development of the students. That is why the practise test results are also added to the overall scores.
• Students also have the great choice in terms of selecting specific subjects according to their interest.
• The students from the ICSE board mostly happen to perform well in scholarship examinations that are based on English as the syllabus is more attuned to the world education standards. Also, the students can pursue their careers in English literature or language through this board.

Disadvantages of the ICSE

Now let’s talk about the disadvantages of this board:

• An average student may feel that the syllabus is difficult because an ICSE board student will have to give thirteen subjects/examinations during the sixth grade whereas there are six subjects in CBSE for the same grade student.
• In spite of the fact that ICSE syllabus facilitates deeper understanding and better life skills and analytical skills, when it comes to pursuing further education, it might become difficult due to a lack of leniency in evaluating papers after an ICS Examination.

Equalities Between CBSE and ICSE

There are some similarities between both boards which are listed below:

• First of all, both the boards are recognized by all the colleges and the universities of India. So, the student can easily take admission on the behalf of the certificates of these boards.
• Secondly, the main subjects which are taught in these boards are almost the same.
• Additionally, it is very true that both the boards provide the quality study to the students and this fact is admirable.
• Moreover, both of the boards are very passionate about interactive teaching than one-way class lectures. They put emphasis on learning through experience.

If we talk about the conclusion that which board is best then I must say that both of these boards have an equal amount of merits and demerits, selection of the right board for the child will totally depend on what kind of future you want for your kid. If we talk about the overall quality of education then education deliver by both of boards is excellent, so you will need to assess your child’s strengths and interest to find out the right board for them. It is true that a good board can make a lot of difference in a child’s early development and level of exposure. Also, all the parents want their child to be in an environment that is favourable to the child’s overall growth. So, it is very important to think, analyze and then take a calculated move as this concern is related to your child’s future.

However, the main thing to keep in the mind is that your primary concern is the quality of the education of your children more than the board of education. That is why it is more important to choose a good school for your child instead of worrying about the board of education it falls under.