Summary
The first batch of students of robotics & AI will take their ICSE (Class X) examinations in 2025
The ICSE council will train teachers in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) since it is “a newly introduced contemporary subject”.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is conducting a five-day residential training programme in Hyderabad in June for schools that have “introduced robotics & AI at the ICSE Level and for those who plan to introduce it in the near future....”
The first batch of students of robotics & AI will take their ICSE (Class X) examinations in 2025.
In a recent circular to schools, the council said they had received “queries from affiliated schools on the infrastructural requirements, pedagogical strategies and assessment criteria of the projects for the efficacious classroom transaction of robotics & AI”.
“Since it is a newly introduced contemporary subject, (the) CISCE has decided to take several steps for facilitating the uptake of the subject... in the CISCE learning ecosystem,” the circular said.
The council said the steps include the release of a subject primer on robotics & AI and teacher-training programmes.
Another step is the introduction of two separate subjects, AI and robotics, at the ISC (Class XII) level for the examination year 2027.
The council has also said it recognises the “transformative role of robotics and AI in all professions and vocations and thus has introduced the subject at the ICSE level for the examination Year 2025”.
Our Lady Queen of the Missions School Salt Lake is among the institutions that introduced robotics & AI in Class IX this year and the school is sending a teacher to attend the training.
“In the past few years, we have seen our students opt for AI in higher studies. If we can give them an opportunity to study the subject at the school level, it would help them eventually,” said Sister Sherly Sebastian, principal, Our Lady Queen of the Missions School Salt Lake.
“We may or may not like technology but we cannot wish it away. We have to prepare our students for it.”
The Heritage School, which is yet to offer robotics & AI as a subject, is also sending teachers for training.
Several other schools like Modern High School for Girls, Sri Sri Academy, MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School and Julien Day School Kalyani plan to offer the subject at the ICSE level (Class X) in the next few years.
“AI has become a usable thing in many of our transactions and we need to teach our students about it,” said Damayanti Mukherjee, principal, Modern High School for Girls.
Some schools offer robotics and coding as activities for middle and senior school students but not as subjects.
“We are waiting to see the question paper pattern in the board exam and how the students fare in it, before introducing the subject,” said Terence John, principal, Julien Day School Kalyani.
Offering it as a subject would require qualified teachers and proper training for classroom transactions and assessment.
Last updated on 21 May 2024
