Schools affiliated to the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) have welcomed the Council's move of revising the syllabi for the March 2010 examination for Class IX and XI. The syllabus, which was designed to equip the students for competitive exams, has received a positive response from the principals.

Terming the revised syllabus for 2010 examination as "more practical and relevant" they said that the syllabus is comprehensive and student friendly.

According to Ebenezer International School Principal Dr A Ebenezer, earlier the students were loaded with portions and most of them were irrelevant. "The current syllabus looks more practical and useful. The syllabus was vast earlier but now it has been condensed," he added.

Sharing a similar opinion, Founder Principal of Innisfree House School, Mrs S Bolar said the curriculum is more application-based and the students are not expected to learn by rote. Further, Mrs Bolar said that English, second language, History, Civics and  Geography and Environmental Education are compulsory papers for ICSE while English and Environmental Education are compulsory for ISC. “A wide choice of subjects such as cookery, technical drawing, home science etc, are given to students. This helps students develop some skills for life.

Moreover, there is no set combination, which enables the students to pick the subjects of their choice," she added. Though, the Council revises its syllabi every three years, this year, the subjects were revised with the objective of preparing students for stiff competitions like the pre-medical entrance test, IIT-JEE for medical and engineering admission.

Recently the Council has revised the syllabus for Class IX and XI. In ISC (Classes XI and XII), the subjects revised are: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, History, Geography, Psychology, Economics and Accounts. At the ICSE level (Classes IX and X) History and Mathematics subjects have been revised. The Expert Review Committee has revised the syllabus and framed in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework 2005.

CISCE Deputy Secretary Poonam Sodi (ISC) told Deccan Herald that the ISC syllabus has been revised to help the students prepare better for competitive exams. "It includes not only competitive exams in India but also abroad," she said.

Citing an example of Chemistry, Ms Sodi said: "Re-orientation of the subject is done in such a way  that it's more of logical sequencing and rote learning is minimised."

Ms Sodi said that it was decided to discontinue Business Mathematics from the March 2010 Examination onwards as "lessons in Business Mathematics were overlapping with those in Mathematics."

Class X History, according to the 2009 syllabus posted on their website, comprises Indian National Movement and contemporary world.

The revised 2010 History syllabus comprises the Indian National Movement that includes the first war of independence, causes of the rise of radical nationalism, the partition of Bengal and its impact, partition of India, comparative study of any three leaders who had non-violence as their motivation etc.

More than 1,500 schools affiliated to the Council would benefit from the revision of the syllabus. The syllabi will be effective from the academic year beginning April 2008 for Classes IX and XI.

The revised syllabi are posted on the website and the printed copies of the syllabi will be sent to all schools affiliated to the Council in the last week of January 2008.