Mita Mukherjee

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is collaborating with foreign boards to upgrade its assessment, training and evaluation methods, Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of CISCE said.

Talks are on with the education board of Finland at present and the council also has a plan to collaborate with the boards of UK and Australia, Arathoon said.

Refuting media reports that CISCE was likely to become an international board soon, Arathoon said that there was no such plan. 

“There is no proposal to make CISCE an international board. We are only seeking foreign collaboration under three heads, assessment, training and evaluation so that they match the international standards,” Arathoon told EducationWorld.

  The CISCE chief had mentioned about its plans to collaborate with the foreign boards while addressing a virtual conference of Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India last Saturday. The CISCE conducts the ICSE and ISC examinations.

“  Talks are on between the council and the education board of Finland. We are also planning to collaborate under the three heads  with the education boards of  Australia and UK,” Arathoon said. 

More students are now aspiring to pursue higher studies in the foreign universities and there has been a remarkable growth of schools affiliated with international boards like International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge Assessment International Education in some of the major cities in India.

The principal of an Anglo-Indian school who attended the conference on Saturday said the CISCE chief had hinted at  “collaboration” with foreign boards with an aim to stay relevant and ensure international exposure to its students.

 “We were informed that the council has plans to collaborate with foreign boards. The CISCE is a student-friendly board and the collaboration will help us to improve the ICSE and ISC curriculum, syllabus and examination system, said the principal.

Heads of several schools said the CISCE’s plans to collaborate with the foreign boards like the education board of Finland was a welcome move considering the increasing demand among students to study abroad.

Richard Gasper, head of St. Augustine Day School said the  assessment and evaluation methods followed in Finland were extremely student-friendly and the students studying in the ICSE-ISC schools will benefit to a great  extent if the CISCE adopts  them.

“Some of the teaching practices in Finland are said to be very successful and student-friendly . The curriculum followed in the Finland schools are designed in such a way that it makes the learning process less stressful and joyful for young students, something which is needed also for students of our own country,” said Gasper. 

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