The War of the Boards: CBSE vs ICSE in the field of Technology

{{formatDate('Tue Sep 17 2019 23:35:56 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)') }}, Tejaswini Sundar, Review

The War of the Boards: CBSE vs ICSE in the field of Technology

The education system has always been the backbone to a developing nations needs. Differences in industries that have been brought to life due to the diversification of education, have been unified by a single purpose: the growth of technology. Though the education systems in India have brought massive changes to the thought process of students and have given them ample opportunities to explore any field, has the current education system done enough to incorporate technology in a classroom?

Talking about the current education systems in India, there are two very popular boards parents would want to admit their children to. The difference in teaching and material is expected to be maximum. They do differ, so here’s an overview of the two most popular boards:

CBSE vs ICSE: What and how they operate

The Central Board for Secondary Education is a board affiliated with the Indian government, which means students in this board study government authorized content. English and Hindi are chosen as media of communication. This board conducts two examinations - the All India Secondary School Examination, which is the AISSE for Class X, and the All India Senior School Cetificate Examination (AISSCE) for Class XII. This board is recognized by the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) with the aim to run a chain of central schools (Kendriya Vidyalaya) that specifically cater to government employees employed in transferable jobs. This board has a structured syllabus, which is highly controllable and predictable.

ICSE is very different from its counterpart. This board is conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination, which is similar to the AISSE conducted by CBSE. This board existed during the time of the British rule, and therefore, is a branch of the Cambridge IGSCE. This board has taken a lot of structures from the NCERT, and at Grade X and XII, has the toughest papers, owing to its detailed syllabus.

The Never-Ending Debate

I had tried to find articles regarding the use of technology in the Indian classroom setting, honorable mentions being this and this. Guess what: nothing came up. The only questions constantly answered in a number of ways is which board is:

Easier

Best for a child's education, and

What are their pros and cons.

Its pretty obvious from the above: yes, CBSE offers you a structured and rather rigid syllabus from which you learn. ICSE has a syllabus that covers the very core of the subject that you study, and hence, its examinations are tougher than that of CBSE. But does having the toughest examination or the most rigid syllabus in the country, give either board the upper hand in incorporating technology in their classrooms? Thankfully, I came across a few more articles that stated how technology was to be used in a classroom space, and how both these boards are trying to keep in par with the need for digitization. What both these boards realize is that a one-way method of teaching should no longer exist. How else would a student improve and reach their potential, makes sense. But the problem lies here: you can't install a projector and a screen in every classroom of your school and call it a step towards digitization.

A news article I had come across had featured CBSE wanting to implement technology to detect paper leaks. Another article by the CBSE portal talks of the importance of Information and Communication Technology in Classrooms that would have a projection or display device, an interactive system, and a computer with a UPS system. So, I dug further, and found a website called Destination Success, or DS digital, which lifted my spirits a bit.

DS Digital is an online classroom solution that provides rich K-12 curriculum with technological products and services in all subject areas. They have an online brochure that describes their approach, features, offering and benefits, along with content demos. There were quite a few testimonials with regard to the clients that extensively used this system. The site also featured their range of products, which includes the Intelliapp, Tablet Solution, Science Lab, Go English, and special modules for teacher training. Having successfully utilized a small portion of what technology has to offer for the field of education, DS Digital has helped revolutionize education in India as we have known it to be. DS Digital has proven to be a result of research and development, and is based on an in-depth understanding of the needs of today's education environment, and the fast developing needs of tomorrow.

Just like its peers, this too is an online solution for K-12 education. But, unlike the rest, this has found its way into the classroom space. Its things such as incorporation of technology in what we do that matter in the world today. How else would future generations design what their minds, see when they're not given access to the best form of education there is? Talking about incorporation doesn't count as steps; they're thoughts, not actions. There should be more schools utilizing such solutions, as in the end, this will end up benefiting everyone to build a brighter and innovative road to progress.