Mita Mukherjee

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has curtailed the syllabuses in English and Indian languages for ICSE and ISC students who will take their board exams in 2022 after consulting the subject experts, the CISCE has said.

Some teachers said the reduction in literature in English paper is “significant”.

In the reduced syllabus of literature in English paper of ICSE, the council mentions four out of ten stories in the short stories section for ICSE candidates of 2022. In the poetry section of the same paper too four out ten poems are mentioned in the reduced syllabus announced by the council.

In the reduced syllabus of literature in English of ISC, five out of ten stories are mentioned in the short stories section for ISC 2022 candidates. In the poetry section too five out the ten poems are mentioned in the reduced syllabus.

In addition to the poetry and short story sections, the ICSE and ISC Literature in English syllabus also include a play by William Shakespeare.

For ICSE 2022 examination, the reduced syllabus mentions only Acts III, IV and V of Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice.

Similarly, the reduced syllabus for ISC students mentions only Acts III, IV and V of the play The Tempest.

The council is also carrying out syllabus reduction in several other subjects at the ICSE and ISC levels, in consultation with the subject experts, the CISCE has informed the heads of all schools through a circular issued by it on Friday evening.

“As we move into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the country continue to cope with the disruption in educational activities brought about due to extended lockdowns in the country. In addition to a significant loss of instructional hours during the past year, teaching-learning processes have also been impacted due to various alternate modes of syllabus transaction that needed to be adopted, due to closure of schools. In view of the above, the CISCE has initiated the process of syllabus review for various subjects at the ICSE and ISC levels specifically for Classes X and XII, for the examination year 2022, to identify portions of the syllabus which may be reduced, without compromising on the quality of content…” read the circular issued to heads of CISCE affiliated schools in the country.

The modified syllabi of the subjects are available on the CISCE website www.cisce.org under the publication section.

In the circular, Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the CISCE asked schools to follow the syllabus strictly according to the sequence of the topics as given in the syllabus to ensure that a same topic is taught by all its affiliated schools at any given point of time.

“ As you are aware, we are in the midst of the pandemic, and there is uncertainty as to when schools across the country will be able to return to normalcy. In the eventuality of the need for further reduction in the syllabus, it is imperative that the concerned subject teachers transact the syllabus strictly according to the sequence of topics given in the syllabus. This will ensure that all CISCE affiliated schools are broadly teaching the same topics at any given point of time as well as facilitate subsequent reduction in syllabus if required,” the circular read.