One look at the board results page online and you give out a sigh of relief, you have done exceptionally well in your 10th grade board exams and made your parents proud. Just when you think you are all sorted and ready to party and spend the summer days frolicking, you realize that there’s another quandary right around the corner! You have to decide what college you have to apply to or if at all you have to go to college! Parth Shah gives you a personal insight into this situation and tells the readers why making a decision early and wisely is of utmost importance.
Make a sound informed decision after your board results. Read on.
The state of Maharashtra follows the SSC board, which is the state board for secondary education and the HSC board which is the state board for higher secondary education. This board is theoretical in nature of learning and highly popular in the state. But in the city of Mumbai, the Delhi board, which is the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), is also gaining popular recognition. Most parents prefer their children to be in this board because it has been the leading board in almost every other state in the country and moreover this board is much dynamic and aims for education through practical learning.
For a student like myself, who did ICSE till grade 10, there was this major predicament ahead. I was questioned if I am to go ahead with the ISC or do HSC. There are very few ISC schools in Mumbai. Most people pick the college life and they take admission in HSC colleges like H.R. College of commerce, Jai Hind, Podar College, Ruia college. What most of them don’t realize that they are going with the flow and not evaluating the other options available. Students of schools that don’t have the ISC, have no clue what this syllabus is and what it has to offer. Doing HSC after ICSE will not only mean a change of board but will destroy the purpose of taking ICSE in the first place. ICSE students will definitely score in HSC but their process of learning shall stagnate, as they wouldn’t be learning anything new! HSC and ISC chapters are similar but ISC syllabus involves an in-depth study with weightage given to practical projects. ISC, with its Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) improves the social awareness of the child as it involves field activities like setting up a library for villages; teaching them substantial ways of agriculture etc.
If you do happen to chose the Maharashtra State Board over others like CBSE and ISC that do involve an advanced and challenging syllabus and yet have great scope for scoring high, you can still get recognition in universities nationwide. However, that being said if you do opt for ISC or CBSE it will surely benefit you more than the state boards, for the simple reason that it is a higher level than your tenth grade and it shall keep you on your toes with more than enough scope for extra-curricular activities and co-curricular activities.
There are only 36 schools in Mumbai, which offer the ISC curriculum.Ergo, if you are the one who wants decent amount of time on your hands by bunking college and missing lectures and having little or no pressure then HSC is the way to go. But if you are ready to give up the college life and adopt a school life, which has all the elements of college life plus competitive learning and internationally accepted education, then surely a school, which offers ISC, CBSE or IB is where you are supposed to be. The question is, can you sacrifice the rush from bunking for a better but a challenging syllabus?
(video source : Vir Das’s Youtube channel)
