Receding trend of pursuing class XII in CBSE or ICSE schools by students is becoming evident

Updated on: Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Even as majority of the parents nowadays want their kids to study in any of the central boards - CBSE or ICSE - their choice changes once their wards clear class X. The receding trend of pursuing class XII in CBSE or ICSE schools is clear from the number of students opting for school-based CBSE std X exam. The std X results declared by CBSE on Sunday showed that not even 50 of the over 4,000 students had opted for 'school-based' exam in the 43 city schools.

Even across Chennai region, under whose jurisdiction Maharashtra comes, 41,414 students had opted for the school-based exam out of over 1.74 lakh students in 2,338 schools, said CBSE regional officer Sudharasan Rao. This comes to about 23%, which is 13% less that last year, when nearly 36% students had preferred school-based exam. This year, from among 30,000 students in 360 schools in Maharashtra, only 30% opted for the school exam, sources from CBSE office said.

Among them, 10 hailed from city-based Royal Gondwana School and four from Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) Ajni. This was the lowest figure since the school-based exams started, thanks to alleged 'adverse' policies of Maharashtra government, which discourages CBSE/ICSE students from taking admissions in junior colleges governed by the state board.

The decline started from 2011, when the government barred such students from taking admission into its junior colleges. It was only after a lengthy legal battle by parents that the government was forced to admit their wards, but after centralized admissions were over.

"I think our system is not yet ready for such pattern and, therefore, the response is not encouraging. Of course, the government policies are another major factor. Still, the mindset of Indians is that they believe in judgment made by third person. I feel that both students and parents are not mature enough in this aspect," Bhavan's Civil Lines branch principal Anju Bhutani said.

Echoing her views, director of Royal Gondwana School Devendra Dasture added that uncertainty plays on their mind when they make a choice. "They wish to keep all options open and don't want to shut the door on state board colleges. Another aspect is they have to attend regular classes if they opt for school exam, since they have to take admission to CBSE schools only. On the other hand, those opting for board-based exams can switch over to state board colleges," he says.

Meanwhile, a majority of city schools have notched up exceptional performance with 100% results in the CBSE std X exams. Girls have once again maintained the upper hand. Though Bhavan's Vidya Mandir (BVM) Civil Lines claims to have replicated their achievement of producing city toppers with two girls scoring 98.8, it's their Lloyd Vidyaniketan branch at Wardha that may claim the record. A girl from there has scored an impressive 99.2% to probably top Vidarbha region or even the state.

Receding trend of pursuing class XII in CBSE or ICSE schools by students is becoming evident

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