The ICSE council on Friday announced that the ICSE and ISC would have one exam each at the end of the academic year 2023.
The ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) exams are likely to be held in February or March, the council has said.
The last full-length ICSE/ ISC examinations were held in 2019.
“It has been decided by the CISCE to conduct only one examination at the end of the academic year 2023 at both ICSE & ISC levels. The CISCE proposes to hold the said examinations tentatively in the months of February/March 2023,” Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations said in a circular addressed to the heads of the schools whose students will appear in the ICSE and ISC exams next year.
“You are requested to plan the academic calendar in your respective schools accordingly, so as to prepare the students adequately for the examinations,” the circular says.
The council has also said the syllabi for the ICSE and ISC examinations have been revised in some subjects.
“The revised syllabus is available on the CISCE website, under the Publication section,” the circular says.
In 2020, the exams could not be held in some of the subjects because of the outbreak of Covid and the nationwide lockdown that followed.
In 2021, the board exams could not be conducted at all and the council introduced the semester system for the students who aspire to pass the ICSE and ISC exams this year.
The semester 1 exams were held in November-December 2021, with multiple choice questions (MCQs). Semester 2 exams started in April 2022 and will continue till May (ICSE) and June (ISC).
Teachers said that it was only normal to go back to the system of one examination.
“The semester system reduced the teaching time because students were either writing a semester exam or a rehearsal exam,” said Terence Ireland, principal of St James’ School.
Ireland also said multiple-choice questions might be useful in a competitive exam but not in a school examination.
“It might not be a real test of a child’s knowledge because he could be marking the right answer without knowing," he said.
However, some teachers feel some multiple-choice questions could be included in the full-length papers as well.
“In the MCQ system, there is an opportunity to have open-ended questions. A few (of such questions) can be incorporated. But two exams take a lot of academic time,” said Seema Sapru, principal of The Heritage School.