Primary, Secondary & Higher Secondary Curriculum

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations was established in 1958 by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate with the assistance of the Inter-State Board for Anglo-Indian Education. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act No. XXI of 1860. The Delhi Education Act, 1973, passed by Parliament, in Chapter 1 under Definitions Section 2 (s), recognises the Council as a body conducting public examinations

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination has been designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the Education Policy 1986, through the medium of English. The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination will ensure a general education and all candidates are required to enter and sit for seven subjects and Socially Useful Productive Work. The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination is a school examination and the standard of the examination presupposes a school course of ten years duration (Classes I-X).

ICSE Curriculum

A. Subjects of Examination:

Part I: Compulsory

Internal Examination or Internal Assessment

Candidates for the examination are required to have completed satisfactorily, courses in –
(a) A third language from at least Class V to Class VIII (Internal Examination).
(b) Art (Internal Assessment).
(c) Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service (Internal Assessment).
(d) Physical Education.
(e) Education in Moral and Spiritual Values.
(f) Environmental Education (as per syllabus prescribed).

NOTE ON THE THIRD LANGUAGE

The third language to be studied should be determined as under:
Candidates of Indian nationality
(i) offering Hindi as a compulsory subject for the External Examination (see Part II) will be required to study one of the following languages: Ao Naga, Assamese, Bengali, Dzongkha, Garo, Gujarati, Kannada, Khasi, Kashmiri, Lushai, Lepcha, Malayalam, Marathi, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Tenydie, Urdu or any other language of an Indian community, approved by the Council.
(ii) offering one of the languages in (i) above other than Hindi, will be required to offer Hindi or any other Indian language approved by the Council.
Candidates of other nationalities may be exempted from the study of a third language from the list given in (i) above, provided that they study an approved language for which provision is made by the school.
Exemption from the study of a third language may be made in special cases: such candidates shall be required to complete a course of studies in another subject approved by the Council.

Part II

Subjects for the Examination at the end of Class X

Note: It is expected that candidates will normally offer both Science and Mathematics from Group II. If they choose to take any other combination of subjects, Heads of Schools must apprise them of the implications. For admission to the I.S.C. XII course, all combinations of subjects will be accepted.
The following subject combinations are not permitted for the ICSE Examination:

• Sanskrit as a Second Language (Group I) and Sanskrit as a Classical Language (Group II).
• Computer Science (Group II) and Computer Applications (Group III).
• Economics (Group II) and Economic Applications (Group III).
• Commercial Studies (Group II) and Commercial Applications (Group III).
• Environmental Science (Group II) and Environmental Applications (Group III).
• Technical Drawing (Group II) and Technical Drawing Applications (Group III).
• Under Modern Foreign Language:
  • Candidates opting for a Modern Foreign Language as a Second Language in Group I, he/she may not opt for the same language under Modern Foreign Languages in Group II and Group III.
  • Candidates opting for a Modern Foreign Language in Group II may not opt for the same Language as a Group I and Group III subject.

Internal Examination

(i) The examination at the end of Class IX will be conducted by the school and the promotion of candidates from Class IX to Class X will be the responsibility of the Head of the School in accordance with the attendance and pass criteria as laid down by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.
(ii) Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service (Compulsory)

The assessment in “Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service” will be made by the school and the result will count towards the award of the Certificate. The school will be required to follow the instructions sent by the Council in the matter of keeping records of the work and the assessment of each candidate in “Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service”.

B. Choice of Subjects:

1. All candidates for the examination must enter and sit for seven subjects, Group I (Compulsory): English, a Second Language, History, Civics and Geography, Environmental Education and two of the subjects listed under Group II and one subject listed under Group III (vide page 3) and must have been examined by the school in practical’s/ project work in English, the Second Language, History, Civics and Geography, Environmental Education, the three subjects of their choice and in Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service. A school may not enter candidates for subjects, for the teaching of which the school makes no provision.

C. Awards and conditions for awards:

1. PASS CERTIFICATES will be awarded to candidates who at one and the same examination have entered and sat for seven subjects as detailed in Chapter II, B(1) above and have attained the pass standard in at least five subjects which must include the subject English. Provided that no candidate, except as otherwise exempted by the Council, shall be awarded a Pass Certificate unless in addition to fulfilling the conditions above he/she has attained a pass grade in SUPW and Community Service as examined/assessed internally by the school.

2. SUPPLEMENTARY PASS CERTIFICATES will be awarded to candidates who have obtained PASS CERTIFICATES and who appear in a subsequent examination and attain the pass standard in one or more subjects.
3. STATEMENT OF MARKS will only be issued to candidates who appeared for all the entered subjects of the examination.

The pass marks for each subject is 35%.

D. Issue of Results:

All results will be issued through the Heads of Schools to whom the results will be sent as soon as possible after the award has been completed. The result sheets show the result in the examination as a whole and also indicate the standard reached in each subject taken, (except Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service) by grades ranging from 1 to 9, 1 being the highest and 9 the lowest. Very good is indicated by grades 1 and 2. Grades 3, 4 and 5 indicate a pass with credit, 6 and 7 indicate a pass and 8 and above a failure.
The standard reached in Socially Useful Productive Work and Community Service (Internally Assessed) will be shown on the result sheets by grades A, B, C, D or E; A being the highest and E the lowest. A, B, C or D indicate a pass and E a failure.