Mita Mukherjee
The ICSE council has decided to allow ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) students to opt three to four subjects for an improvement test from next year shifting from its existing system in which candidates can appear in maximum of two subjects in improvement exam, Dr Joseph Emanuel, secretary and chief executive of the Indian Council for School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) said.
The proposed change is being planned to offer students more flexibility and reduce stress but the council as of now has no plans to introduce dual board exams, the CISCE chief said. Beginning in February 2026, students under CBSE curriculum will be able to take the board exam twice — once in February and again in April or May.
“We will be adding more subjects in improvement exams from next year. So in the coming year, students will be allowed to opt for three to four subjects in the improvement test instead of two. We are examining the logistics and then we will decide how many subjects we can finally accommodate. We will increase the number of subjects in improvement exams. But as of now we have no plans to introduce dual exams,” Dr Emmanuel told EducationWorld.
The council had introduced improvement examinations in 2023 in keeping with the recommendation of the NEP 2020 with an intention to give a chance to candidates to improve their performance with the option to keep their best score. The higher marks of the students of the two tests are considered. Initially the option was given for only one subject and later raised to two.
However, the council at present is already allowing students who miss the regular exams because of suffering from prolonged illness or unable to write the main exams for participating in state and national level sports events to appear in the improvement test in all the subjects.
Emmanuel said the CISCE actively focuses on sports activities in its affiliated schools and it is now working on a proposal to introduce an exclusive sports curriculum for Classes X and XII.
“ We are in the process of designing an exclusive sports curriculum for Classes X and XII. We are working on it but we are hoping to be ready with the syllabus in one or two years,” Emmanuel said.
Since the council gives a lot of emphasis on sports for holistic development of students, almost all schools have the facilities to identify the talents and provide necessary support to them to enable them to excel in the field of sports.
“Though we are a small board, we have been able to retain the 12th or 13th positions in national level school games for the past few years. School boards of many big states are behind us in school games,” the CISCE head said.
Also read: ICSE, ISC board results 2025: Girls outshine boys by small margin
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