CBSE-i may turn out to be cheaper than other IB boards
The move of the Central Board of Secondary Education to extend
its international curriculum (CBSE- i) to schools in the country has been welcomed
by academicians and parents. It is expected to make an international schooling experience
available for people beyond the high income group and could be ideal for those wanting
to encourage their children to pursue undergraduate studies abroad. Some
time ago the trend was to allow children to be schooled under any board of education
and then pay around 10 lakh to get admission in a professional course. “But now
parents have realized that it is smart to invest in education much earlier so children
can make the right career choices later”, said Vinayak Sudhakar, school development
manager of the Cambridge Board in India. He said; the number of schools offering
a Cambridge curriculum in the country had increased from around 100, five years
ago to 300 now, with 30 school sin Tamil Nadu alone.
With Cambridge and International Baccalaureate schooling still out of reach of the
middle class, parents and academics feel CBSE-i could be the answer. Existing international
schools said they were forced to charge much higher fees than other Indian board
so of education as the cost of affiliation to the board was high. While the affiliation
cost for an IB diploma programme in a school is around 5.13 lakh, the CBSE currently
offers affiliation for less than half that amount. Add to this the cost of prescribed
textbooks and finding teachers to deliver the content. International schools said
they pay 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh a month to qualified teachers. International boards
of education charge heavily for exams. A candidate wanting to take five papers may
have to pay 15,000 under the Cambridge board while the IB exams cost twice as much.
The CBSE rate shave not been announced but academicians expect them to be much lower.
Consequently, fee structures in schools offering CBSE-i are also expected to be
more reasonable. “Schooling under CBSE-i could also do away with the bridge course
that students going abroad for an undergraduate course are compelled to take, before
pursuing higher education in a foreign university”, expert said. The number of parents
eyeing an undergraduate degree in a foreign university for their children has increased.
But they are also worried about acceptance in Indian universities. This move could
increase the acceptance as it comes from an Indian board of education, said educational
consultant K.R. Maalathi. However, some international schools feel parents keen
on sending their children abroad for UG studies would prefer to remain with Cambridge
or IB curricula.
Salient features of CBSE-i :
Mathematics will be provided at 2 levels core and elective to cater to different
kinds of learners Science education will have a foundation course and an extension,
Break through, which will look at latest advances in science and technology Provides
flexibility in the learning of Indian languages and any foreign language offered
by the board Social sciences with historical perspectives beyond Indian thinking
will be offered.
Courtesy: Times of India
