Government to check if foreign board curriculum on par with state syllabus

The state government has taken up the exercise of studying the syllabi adopted by schools affiliated to international boards to check if they are of the same standards followed by the state board.

The study will look into the curriculum of International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), offered by the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) in the UK, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes offered by IB organisation, headquartered in Switzerland.

The task
The department of primary and secondary education has assigned the task to the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE), Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) and Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB).

“For the purpose of higher education, we have to know if a student passing out of these programmes will have a qualification equivalent to that of a student from our board. Can a student from IGCSE take admission in PU? Is an A-level certificate equivalent to class X or XII? At present, there is confusion about this and we need to bring some clarity. Hence, we have taken up this exercise,” said Ajay Seth, principal secretary of the department.

The study will look at the subjects in the curriculum, number of years of schooling, number of teaching hours and evaluation methods, among other aspects.

Education Act
Seth also said the government would ensure that international schools, affiliated to foreign boards, will also have to register themselves with the department, according to the Karnataka Education Act. At present, these schools are unregulated.

“We have received several complaints from parents about international schools. Recently, there was an issue with a school in Kalaburagi which claimed to be giving certificates from a board in the USA. The Act applies to these schools for all purposes except academics and they need to be registered,” Seth said.

Result dates differ

This year, more than 60 students from international schools have applied for admissions in pre-university colleges in the state. IGCSE schools have the option to take their exams in March, June or November. Students who wrote their exam in June face difficulty when applying for PU as their results are declared in August.

For admission to PU colleges, students need an eligibility certificate from the PU board but the board cannot issue the certificate without the student’s original marks card. 

“In IGCSE, they give students a ‘Predicted Score’ similar to the score of students in preparatory examinations in our board. But there is no provision to give admissions based on this. If we do and the student fails to clear his exams, what would we do in such a situation?” one official said. Director of the board, C Shikha, said they would seek clarity on this from the government.