St Lawrence High School for Boys, among the few reputable Calcutta schools still affiliated to the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary boards, has decided to switch to the ICSE-ISC curriculum by citing changing preferences.

Father Sebastian James, principal of the Jesuit institution, said parents of students had requested the school on several occasions to consider switching affiliation from the state boards to the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations.

“The parents had given us in writing that they want the ICSE curriculum. The decision to make the switch is final. We are preparing our files for a change in affiliation,” he said.

The institute would need to apply to the school education department for a no-objection certificate before approaching the ICSE authorities.

Several English-medium schools have moved away from the state boards over the past two decades. St Xavier’s Collegiate School, another Jesuit institution, started the trend about 18 years ago in keeping with the wishes of parents. Loreto House and Modern High followed. South Point School and Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School are among the newer defectors.

The reasons given by schools moving out of the ambit of the state boards range from curriculum to evaluation methods. The general view is that the ICSE-ISC and CBSE syllabi are more in sync with national-level competitive examinations.

Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinees have historically scored less in the Class X and Class XII board exams because the accent is on essay-type questions rather than the short-format system followed by the Delhi-based boards.

The Madhyamik and Higher Secondary syllabi have been remodelled over the past six years but parents would still prefer ICSE-ISC to the state boards, a teacher at St Lawrence said.

According to a church official, an exit from the state boards would also give St Lawrence more administrative and academic freedom. Anglo-Indian schools run by the Christian missionaries have been refusing government grants to safeguard their freedom. St Lawrence stopped accepting DA grants a few years ago, but the government can still intervene in its administrative decisions.

Since 1937, St Lawrence has produced many illustrious alumni. Trinamul MP Saugata Roy, an old boy, described his alma mater’s decision to switch to ICSE-ISC as “a welcome move”.

Roy’s three siblings, including Tathagata Roy, who is now the governor of Meghalaya, had also studied at St Lawrence. “As an old student, I can feel nostalgic. But this (the change) is a genuine demand. It is true that ICSE is more suited to those who want to compete at the national or international level,” the Trinamul MP said.