School Boards in India

India has primarily four boards of school education, namely CBSE, ICSE, State boards and IB. Most of the private schools in India are affiliated either to CBSE or CISCE. The government schools are affiliated to the state  boards while the central schools or Kendriya Vidyalayas are affiliated to CBSE. 


Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) 


Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is the most popular school board in India with over 9000 schools in the country. CBSE affiliated schools are present not only in India but across the globe as well. Teaching methodology and curriculum are always updated and NCERT prescribed books are taught. Focus is on science and mathematics as well as application based subjects. For details on CBSE, click here

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE)


Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination also known as CISCE is an all-India board and based in New Delhi. In 1952. The objective of the Council is to provide high quality education to the students through a practical approach. The Council conducts three examinations, namely, the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE –Class X); The Indian School Certificate (ISC - ClassXII) and the Certificate in Vocational Education (CVE - Year 12). For details, click here

State Boards


State boards are specific to each State and follows separate syllabus and grading methodology. Each State has its own education board that oversees the academic affairs of the schools. The government schools of each state is under the State Board. Exams are conducted in each class. In Class X, the students appear for Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and the Class XII students appear for the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (HSC) exams.

International Baccalaureate (IB)


International Baccalaureate was formed in 1968 and is a no-profit educational organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. Their teaching methodology is very different from CBSE or the state boards. It is practical and application and project based as opposed to rote learning. The focus of IB examinations is to test the knowledge of the child rather than speed and memory. For details, click here

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