With several state boards declaring Class 10 results and central boards including CBSE and CISCE conducting their term 2 exams, students are now looking forward to climb up in their career ladder. Many students are confused on whether to choose CBSE after Class 10th or go with the IB board. To address this confusion, Careers360 has organised a webinar on the topic ‘Choosing Your Board: CBSE Or IB?'. Experts including Aditi Misra, Principal, DPS, Gurugram; Vice-Chairperson, National Progressive Schools Conference (NPSC), and Mahesh Balakrishnan, Development and Recognition Manager, India and Nepal, IB addressed the Careers360 webinar.
Basic details regarding the CBSE and IB boards were discussed on the Careers360 webinar on ‘Choosing Your Board: CBSE Or IB?' When the question was raised about the introduction of the IB (International Baccalaureate) board, Mr Balakrishnan said if a student is looking at a progressive board with student-centric learning, then IB is a good choice for them. Bursting the myth on IB board, he added: “50% of our students who do IBDP in India do study higher education in India. They go to universities like Delhi University and the University of Mumbai. Even in small towns, we have IB schools and students who find their way there and go to the best universities in India and overseas.”
In fact, IB board students, Mr Balakrishnan said, are not only those who seek overseas education but those also who have been shifting between boards, or have been shifting cities. “And there are students who understand having lived overseas that IB education is different, research-oriented, it helps students solve problems, do community service, develop as a person, and be critical thinkers. It also leads to your cognitive development, and thus, makes for a good choice. For students who're willing to put in the rigour to developing their own personality, IB is a great choice in terms of the middle years and higher secondary years,” he added.
Clarifying what CBSE board is, Principal of DPS, Gurugram, Aditi Misra said CBSE students have witnessed a plethora of changes in the last decade. This only happened because of the excellent work done by boards including IB. She said, “A lot of ideas have been taken from the IB, the GSCE, and ICSE, because every school and board want to reach out to the children and provide a good education.”
When asked about the hierarchy amongst the different boards in terms of cracking the JEE Main and Advanced examinations, Ms Misra clarified that the paper setters of JEE and NEET refer to the CBSE and the NCERT books which are the only textbook CBSE students follow. Hence, there's a possible inclination that can be seen toward CBSE students being more successful in these exams.
“It's not a battle, it's open ground. What we need to do is come together, share good practices, and allow students, without being judged to do what suits them. I've heard many people come to me saying that CBSE is so difficult and it's better to choose IB. Let me tell them that IB is not easy. It is child-friendly, yes. But, it forces you to think independently. Having now become part of IB in DPS international, it's not easy. The numbers in IB schools are definitely increasing. But not every city has an IB school, nor can every parent afford an IB education,” she stated.
On the same question, Mr Balakrishnan answered by saying “In terms of subject marking, the nomenclature can sometimes become an issue. For example, Business Management will become Business Studies, and we have Mathematics Analyses and Interpretation, and so on. But, the maximum variation in subject matter content will be no more than 15%. IBDP is a rigorous program, with 5-6 subjects, including extended essays and research. Students learn to become independent learners who do research and a lot of activities. In some cases, it may not give them time to prepare for competitive exams. But if you're spending most of your time in coaching centres, then you're not doing justice to your school studies.”
This, in turn, raised the question that if a student in IB will be able to do both schooling and also coaching for competitive exams. Mr Balakrishnan further added “See, you have internal essays, extended essays, theory of knowledge, etc. throughout the two years, so the students are engaged all the time. Because of the way that the program is structured, not all students will be able to do coaching as well.”
While talking about the CBSE's learning style and application-based learning, Ms Misra clarified how it is unfair to paint CBSE as a board of rote learning. Addressing the recent project-based learning in CBSE, she added other innovations in the learning process of the board. She said “We also have art integrated learning as well now which is a part of NEP. So, it includes subjects that are learnt through the arts, for example through music, dance, theatre, etc. Students are learning the periodic table through songs, for example. There is no rote based learning there. Students even change the song around to make it more fun. This connection between the head and the heart is being made, something that we're all looking forward to implementing more.”
Mr Balakrishnan has also introduced students to the learning process in IB. He said the board has two different programs - the IBDP, which is the 11th and 12th qualification. The other is IBCP, which is a careers program. In IBDP, there are 6 subject groups. Ideally, a student takes up one subject from each group. There's a lot of breadth and depth in it. A student also has to take an extended essay, a 4000-word original research work, a 1600 work theory of knowledge, and put in the hours for creativity, action, and service (CAS). Most of it is research-oriented, applied learning and all of it happens in an interdisciplinary manner, not silos.
When the question of biasedness of abroad studying and central examination of IB and CBSE respectively raised, Ms Misra accepted that fact and said “I think there is an equal number of students, if not more, who do go to study abroad with CBSE education. Of course, the sample size is large, so the percentages won't be as large. But, CBSE students always have that option open to them. I know there are good colleges like LSR, Stephen's, and Hindu that have taken IB students based on their predicted scores. But, I think there should be some system by which more IB students join such colleges with the same ease that ICSE or CBSE students can.”
In turn, Mr Balakrishnan said, “In India, there is a perception that IB leans more towards the Liberal Arts and Humanities, while CBSE is more Science-centric. But, if you look at the spread globally, then it is both the STEM subjects as well as the liberal arts that IB leans towards.”
Saying about the affordability of IB board, Mr Balakrishnan said: “It's a myth that IB schools are very expensive. There are affordable IB schools, and then there are expensive ones. It varies because IB doesn't restrict schools or say that you should be charging no more than a given amount. IB only mandates that all school teachers need to be trained. There are very affordable schools as well. There are also many IB schools that have very generous scholarships, both in India and overseas.”
Ms Mishra also said that CBSE has been very accommodating for children with special needs. “Right from giving them subjects of their choice without forcing them to do certain subjects, as I had mentioned with Maths, they're allowed to drop a third language in junior school and a second language in senior school. They're also allowed to drop Social Sciences if for some reason they find it difficult to deal with facts and dates,” she added.
Concluding the webinar Ms Mishra said: “There are no good or bad boards. It's purely the parent's choice and perspective. I'd rather use the term schools. All good schools, should look at learning and make the students holistic learners. It's not just about the marks. It's about what you're doing.”
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