INDIAN CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (ICSE)

(Celebrating 60 years of providing excellence in education)


The ICSE board is unique from the point of view of its functionality, curriculum, abilities and standards. Governed by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), a non-government, private board for school education in India, ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) is an examination conducted for Grade X and ISC (Indian School Certificate) for Grade XII.


Merits of ICSE (CISCE) –

  • ICSE focuses on the child’s overall growth and has a balanced syllabus.

  • The syllabus is more comprehensive, structured and aims to give practical knowledge and build analytical skills in students.

  • The syllabus is vast giving due importance to all the subjects.

  • Students also have flexibility of selecting specific subjects.

  • ICSE focuses on detailed study of each subject with an edge over English.

  • ICSE considers internal assessments to be very crucial for a child’s development. The practical test results are aggregated with the overall scores.

  • ICSE syllabus and teaching aids are suitable for students opting for management streams.

  • CISCE is recognized by many foreign education systems. ICSE certificates are accepted by most of the schools and colleges all around the world. It is recommended for parents those who have to move in different countries.

  • ICSE students perform well in scholarship examinations which are based on English as the syllabus is more attuned to the world education standards. A career in English literature or language is best suited for students.


Subjects

The subjects that are offered are divided into three groups.

1. Group I includes Compulsory Subjects — English, History, Civics & Geography, and Indian Language.

2. Group II which includes any two from Mathematics, Science (Physics, Biology, Chemistry) as separate subjects, Environmental Science, Computer Science, Agricultural Science, Commercial Studies, Technical Drawing, A Modern Foreign Language, A Classical Language and Economics.

3. Group III has any one from Computer Applications, Economic Applications, Commercial Applications, Art, Performing Arts, Home Science, Cookery, Fashion Designing, Physical Education, Technical Drawing Applications, Yoga, and Environmental Applications.

4. All subjects have components of internal assessment that are carried out by schools, on the basis of assignments/project work, practicals and coursework. There is 20% weightage for internal assessment in group I and II and 50% weightage for group III.

5. In subjects where there are more than one paper (e.g., Science), the marks obtained in the subject are calculated by taking the average of all the papers in the subject. Candidates appearing for the examination have to study six subjects, with one to three papers in each subject. For subject HC &G the paper 1 consists of History & Civics and paper 2 consists of Geography, Science consists of three papers each for Physics, Chemistry and Biology.


Language pattern:

All schools affiliated to the Indian council for Secondary Education (ICSE) need to follow a three- language formula. The medium of instruction is English. Initially the emphasis is laid on developing oral language skills of the child and later on other skills like listening, reading and writing are integrated into the curriculum. English being the I- Language is introduced in class I along with the Second language and III Language is introduced in class V. The school emphasizes on activity based instruction.