What is CBSE Curriculum (Syllabus Details)

The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) is a standardised curriculum offered in more than 24 countries across the world.As of 2016, the board had a total of 17,300 affiliated schools. Out of these 17,093 are located in India and 207 are located in different countries of the world. In 2016, a total 1,040,515 candidates were registered for class XII examination, which is a 1.1% increased rate of registrants compared to 2015.

Here are some salient features of this curriculum:

• The syllabus is very structured and controlled. It makes use of standardised Textbooks.
• No child can fail a class till 8th grade
• Most entrance exams conducted in the country for college admission follow this syllabus.
• Board exams are OPTIONAL in 10th grade and MANDATORY in 12th Grade
• Favoured by those who constantly relocate within India or even abroad to countries in the Middle East etc and seek a standardized curriculum
• Favoured by those who want to go into the traditional routes of Engineering/medical
• Curriculum Focus at Secondary Level: This focuses on 7 major learning areas (Actual subjects offered will vary from school to school )
• Humanities- Geography, History, Economics, Home Science, Sociology, Fine Arts, Political Science, Fashion Studies, Creative Writing and translation Studies and related subjects
• Mathematics
• Science and Technology – Subjects related to Biology, Chemistry, Physics, ICT, Information Practices and Web and Multimedia Studies
• Health and Physical Education
• Visual and Performing arts – Dance, Drama, Music, Drawing, Painting, Crafts and Sculpture
• Commerce – Business Studies, Accountancy, Entrepreneurship, Economics and related subjects

Assessment:

In the CBSE System, instead of 3 exams like Quarterly, half yearly and Annual, there is continuous assessment throughout the year called Formative Assessments (FA) and one exam called Summative assessment (SA). There are two semesters.

First Semester Assessment:

FA1:

• Formative Assessment will consist of 3 activities of 10 marks each: (Final Weightage: 10 marks)
• Individual Activity (Making chart, model, project etc)
• Group Activity (Skit, Model making, project presentations etc)
• Pen and paper exam

FA2: Same as above (Final Weightage: 10 marks)

Summative Assessment: Written Exam – (90% Theory, 10% Practical) – Final weightage – 30 marks

Total marks per Semester: 50

*Two semesters add up to 100 marks for the academic year.

What are the GPA Criteria of CBSE curriculum?

What are the CBSE provisions on Special Education?

The CBSE system also mandates Special Education. Children who seem to be having learning difficulties in class are referred to the school counselor. The counselor then observes the child and then may refer the child to a Special Education Teacher. Remedial classes may be conducted for those children separately by the special education teacher. Exam papers set for such children are done taking into consideration the adaptations and modifications required for such a child. For example, some children know the material but have a reading difficulty – For such children, the question papers will be read out loud so that they can answer.