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By Rajkamal Rao
Go back to Section 7c: Choosing a curriculum
The CBSE is a national program which prescribes the curricula for grades 10 and 12. It also conducts a national exam for these two grades. The CBSE is a self-financing body without any aid either from the Indian government or other resources. Much like the ACT or SAT, its financial needs are met from the annual examination, affiliation and other fees that the board charges schools and students. The footprint of the Board is vast - with nearly 9,000 schools in 21 countries offering CBSE curricula and exams to students.
CBSE’s standards are considered tougher than those of the equivalent state boards. Depending upon the age of returning NRI children, the language requirement may become a primary determinant. In India, students must learn a second language, defined as a language other than the “medium of instruction” of the core subjects. Assuming that the returning NRI child chooses the English medium - which means that the core subjects of Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Work Education or Pre-Vocational Education, Art Education and Physical/Health Education are learned in English - the child must learn one another language. The choice of this second language can be drawn from: Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujrati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Lepcha, Limbu, Bhutia, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Nepali, Tibetan and Mizo.
This choice represents the strength of India’s diversity and support for minority rights, even including foreign languages. It also underscores the fact that India recognizes the benefits of second language learning not only for linguistic reasons but also for the cognitive and creative abilities that second language learning is expected to provide the student. No other government curriculum in the world can claim to offer a similar menu of language choices in secondary education.
Academic literature regarding the benefits of second language learning is solid. Therese Sullivan Caccavale, president of the U.S. National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), says in an interview with Duke University’s Talent Improvement Program (TIP) that studies have shown repeatedly that foreign language learning increases critical thinking skills, creativity, and flexibility of mind in young children. Students who are learning a foreign language out-score their non-foreign language learning peers in the verbal and, surprisingly to some, the math sections of standardized tests. This relationship between foreign language study and increased mathematical skill development, particularly in the area of problem solving, points once again to the fact that second language learning is more of a cognitive than linguistic activity. A 2007 study in Harwich, Massachusetts, showed that students who studied a foreign language in an articulated sequence outperformed their non-foreign language learning peers on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test after two-three years and significantly outperformed them after seven-eight years on all MCAS subtests.
Note however that ultimately, the CBSE is nothing more than a curriculum leading to an exam. Or rather two exams: The Secondary Certificate Exam (Grade 10, often called Class X) and the Senior School Certificate Exam (Grade 12 or Class XII). In a sense, the CBSE is more like the SAT or ACT tests. The 9,000 schools which offer the CBSE curriculum are left to themselves to prepare students to take these exams. Which means that in earlier years, i.e. Grades 1 to 9, the CBSE program neither specifies a course of study nor conducts a qualifying exam. The assessments during these pre-matriculation years are internal to each school and the training/teaching is similarly internal. Attendance requirements do exist (generally 75%).
This arrangement allows NRI parents to get creative in designing a program for children that best suits their needs. Because the core curriculum is rather limited in scope (just 5 subjects), parents can add material at home to augment the interests of their children - as needed. This is helpful for students who wish to return to the US for under-graduate education - since US schools favor students with well rounded profiles. An NRI child could enroll in music, dance, computer science, art or language training outside of school hours and simultaneously prepare for ACT/SAT closer to the Class X/XII CBSE exam. The CBSE Class XII certificate is accepted by all colleges for college admissions in India.
Go back to Section 7c: Choosing a curriculum
The CBSE is a national program which prescribes the curricula for grades 10 and 12. It also conducts a national exam for these two grades. The CBSE is a self-financing body without any aid either from the Indian government or other resources. Much like the ACT or SAT, its financial needs are met from the annual examination, affiliation and other fees that the board charges schools and students. The footprint of the Board is vast - with nearly 9,000 schools in 21 countries offering CBSE curricula and exams to students.
CBSE’s standards are considered tougher than those of the equivalent state boards. Depending upon the age of returning NRI children, the language requirement may become a primary determinant. In India, students must learn a second language, defined as a language other than the “medium of instruction” of the core subjects. Assuming that the returning NRI child chooses the English medium - which means that the core subjects of Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Work Education or Pre-Vocational Education, Art Education and Physical/Health Education are learned in English - the child must learn one another language. The choice of this second language can be drawn from: Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujrati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Lepcha, Limbu, Bhutia, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Nepali, Tibetan and Mizo.
This choice represents the strength of India’s diversity and support for minority rights, even including foreign languages. It also underscores the fact that India recognizes the benefits of second language learning not only for linguistic reasons but also for the cognitive and creative abilities that second language learning is expected to provide the student. No other government curriculum in the world can claim to offer a similar menu of language choices in secondary education.
Academic literature regarding the benefits of second language learning is solid. Therese Sullivan Caccavale, president of the U.S. National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), says in an interview with Duke University’s Talent Improvement Program (TIP) that studies have shown repeatedly that foreign language learning increases critical thinking skills, creativity, and flexibility of mind in young children. Students who are learning a foreign language out-score their non-foreign language learning peers in the verbal and, surprisingly to some, the math sections of standardized tests. This relationship between foreign language study and increased mathematical skill development, particularly in the area of problem solving, points once again to the fact that second language learning is more of a cognitive than linguistic activity. A 2007 study in Harwich, Massachusetts, showed that students who studied a foreign language in an articulated sequence outperformed their non-foreign language learning peers on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test after two-three years and significantly outperformed them after seven-eight years on all MCAS subtests.
Note however that ultimately, the CBSE is nothing more than a curriculum leading to an exam. Or rather two exams: The Secondary Certificate Exam (Grade 10, often called Class X) and the Senior School Certificate Exam (Grade 12 or Class XII). In a sense, the CBSE is more like the SAT or ACT tests. The 9,000 schools which offer the CBSE curriculum are left to themselves to prepare students to take these exams. Which means that in earlier years, i.e. Grades 1 to 9, the CBSE program neither specifies a course of study nor conducts a qualifying exam. The assessments during these pre-matriculation years are internal to each school and the training/teaching is similarly internal. Attendance requirements do exist (generally 75%).
This arrangement allows NRI parents to get creative in designing a program for children that best suits their needs. Because the core curriculum is rather limited in scope (just 5 subjects), parents can add material at home to augment the interests of their children - as needed. This is helpful for students who wish to return to the US for under-graduate education - since US schools favor students with well rounded profiles. An NRI child could enroll in music, dance, computer science, art or language training outside of school hours and simultaneously prepare for ACT/SAT closer to the Class X/XII CBSE exam. The CBSE Class XII certificate is accepted by all colleges for college admissions in India.
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