What are the different School Boards in India?

We have different school boards in India which offer a curriculum that differs on the stress on particular subjects, teaching methods, assessment methods and also on the difficulty level. The Central Board of Secondary Education is the most popular board of education which is followed by the Central Schools and available in almost all schools all over India. Every State has a state board which stresses on the regional language and followed by most schools in that state.

Apart from these two, CBSE and SSC, Indian Council of Secondary Education (ICSE) and International Baccalaureate (IB) syllabus, Cambridge Assessment International Education (IGCSE) are other school boards that are popular in India.

Now, let us look at what does each one offer to the students.

CBSE: Central Board of Secondary Education

• This is the most popular board on India which is run by the Government of India.
• There are around 20,000 schools all over India and also across 21 countries in the world.
• CBSE provides an innovative teaching method, which emphasizes in preparing the students for all India Engineering and Medical entrance examinations.
• CBSE board emphasizes the use of NCERT Books, which form the basis of almost all the entrance examinations conducted in India, even the UPSC exams like IAS, IPS and IFS services.
• CBSE board also conducts JEE, AIEEE, AIPMT examinations for admission into premium colleges in India.

ICSE: Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination

• It is a non-governmental board of school education in India.
• ICSE gives more focus on subjects like humanities and management. They have a more practical approach in their method of teaching. They emphasize arts and languages more.
• They have a vaster syllabus when compared to CBSE and structured to improve the analytical skills of the students.
• They conduct the ICSE, ISC and CVE school certificate exams.

IB: International Baccalaureate

• It offers prime quality educational programs at a high cost. Despite being expensive, these schools are considered prestigious. 
• It has an international curriculum which focuses on analytical skills, with fewer textbooks and fragmented approach, they give a lot of freedom to students to explore.
• Arts, humanities, and languages are given more importance and prepare students to become global citizens.
• They conduct PYP, MYP and DYP programs covering from KG to 12th standard.

IGCSE: Cambridge Assessment of International Education

• Cambridge International schools are becoming more in India. They conduct the IGCSE and AS & A Level exams.
• The Cambridge curriculum starts from Primary school and goes up to higher secondary school, students get a clear path from ages 5 to 19, with the most flexible education system in India.
• The syllabus offers a combination of around 70 subjects, with an emphasis on English language and also an additional foreign language that helps the students.

SSC: State Board of Secondary Education 

• State boards are specific to every state and they follow the separate syllabus for each board. Each board has its own grading policy.
• The state board focuses on teaching in English and also regional language. Their curriculum helps the students to prepare for State Level Engineering and Medical Entrance exams.
• Some state boards even follow NCERT books to cater to the Pan India Examinations.
• Exams are conducted for each class, and for class X there will be SSC (Secondary School Certificate) Exam and for class XII there will be HSC (Higher Secondary School Certificate) Exam.