The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated school students dominate in the engineering admission tests, including Joint Entrance Examination-Main (JEE Main) and JEE Advanced, as compared to any other board, according to a survey. While there are just 11 percent of the total number of CBSE schools that offer senior-secondary-level education (Classes 11 and 12), it has a disproportionately high 59 percent of students who are successful in the JEE Main and achieve excellent scores.
According to a Careers360 survey, CBSE students have a higher success rate and a significant advantage in scoring well in the entrance exams than students who completed their Classes 11 and 12 in schools affiliated with state boards. The survey was conducted among the students studying in India's premier institutions to know which boards they studied under and how they prepared for the entrance exams.
The state board schools, which comprise 83 per cent of all senior secondary schools, accounted for just 35 per cent of the success rate in JEE Main and JEE Advanced, as per the survey.
A total of 1,526 students responded to the survey conducted between February and March this year. Among the students who responded, 666 students are currently studying in IITs, 378 in NITs, and 142 in IIITs. In the total number of surveyed students, 78 per cent of them managed to secure a place in one of the country's top institutions.
According to UDISE Plus, India's main public database on schooling, the country has a total of 15,09,136 schools. However, the number of senior secondary schools – with Classes 11 and 12 – is 1,44,088. According to the data, the vast majority of senior secondary schools are affiliated with state boards.
Why CBSE Students Get Advantage In Scoring Well In JEE Main And JEE Advanced
The entrance exams, including the newly introduced Common University Entrance Test (CUET), are uniformly based on the NCERT textbooks. While some state boards have been pushed to adopt textbooks from NCERT, CBSE textbooks are all based on NCERT.
According to the survey, there is a significant overlap between students appearing in the JEE exam, junior-level scholarship competitions, and the olympiads in Classes 9 and 10. The syllabus for these exams is based on the NCERT textbooks. Hence, it helps CBSE students appearing for the JEE to get early exposure to the textbooks and syllabus for the engineering entrance examination.
The survey also finds that most of the government schools affiliated with the state boards use the regional languages to teach the students, and that may make preparation more difficult. Although the National Testing Agency (NTA) started conducting the JEE Main exams in 13 languages, the number of students who write in languages other than English is pretty small.
If the primary objective of a student is to crack a central examination after Class 12, the survey suggests that the CBSE may be a better option.
