One India, One Education Board?

Over the past few years, a number of education boards have come up in India, each with its own syllabus and grading system. This has happened because education falls in the tertiary list and is the shared responsibility of the centre as well as of the states. CBSE, CISCE and NIOH are the central boards with CBSE having the maximum number of affiliated schools. There are various state boards like Bihar and UP Board, Kerala Boards, Assam Boards and many others. Some of the top schools in India are also affiliated to international boards like IB and Cambridge International.

All these education boards have their own pros and cons. While one can argue that the syllabus for sciences are more or less the same, it differs a lot when it comes to social sciences and literature. State boards give more preference to vernacular languages and local history whereas the central and international boards have fondness towards English and other foreign languages. The history taught in CBSE focuses on pan India topics like freedom struggle, ancient empires, world wars etc. India is a diverse country with an equally diverse population and this justifies the existence of so many education boards. However the problem arises when students from all these boards apply for higher education in colleges of universities like the Delhi University.

Delhi University has cutoffs for admissions into most of the streams from English to Journalism. These cutoffs are based on marks scored by a student in their respective board exams. Bihar and UP boards are difficult and have stricter marking scheme as compared to CBSE or Kerala Board. ICSE board is tougher still. So, a student scoring 98% in CBSE might have the same aptitude as a student scoring 82% in Bihar board. The one scoring 98% will clear the high cutoffs of the colleges of Delhi University. An inequality also exists within the boards, as students from state boards are considered inept as compared to students coming from ICSE or CBSE. Parents are also confused and often feel pressurized to send their kids to CBSE or ICSE affiliated school, assuming that these schools provide better education. The rich can easily afford these schools but the poor cannot, resulting in further deepening of the inequalities. So even education has not remained the great leveler that it once was.

It is high time that the governments, intellectuals, teachers and civil societies come together and brainstorm ideas so that they can come up with a solution for all these issues. Let’s hope that the draft National Education Policy 2019 recognizes and addresses these concerns.