Should You Choose CBSE Or IB? Experts Resolve Your Dilemma

Choosing the most suited education board is crucial for a student to work systematically towards their higher education and career goals. Not only the board that you choose will determine the kind of education that you get in your senior school years, but also the kind of skillset that you would develop. Careers360 organised a webinar to help students answer the questions related to choosing a board in class 11, and any questions related to CBSE or the IB. We were joined by Ms. Aditi Misra, Principal, DPS, Gurugram; Vice-Chairperson, National Progressive Schools Conference (NPSC), and Mr. Mahesh Balakrishnan, Development and Recognition Manager, India and Nepal, IB. Here are some important excerpts from the webinar in case you missed it.

Q. How would you introduce the IB Board to students who’re not very familiar with it?

Mahesh | IB is a great education board. If you’re looking at a progressive board, with student-centric learning, then IB is a good choice. And you have the best practice from around the world being implemented in IB. I want to break the myth that students should look at IB as a board to just go overseas.

Let’s look at the tenets of IB: inquiry-based learning, student-centric learning, and learning profile attributes, and academics is at the centre of it all. Can students pursue engineering or medicine with an IB qualification? Yes, very much so. These are some things that I want to clarify upfront. 50% of our students who do IBDP in India do study higher education in India. They go to universities like Delhi University and the University of Mumbai. Even in small towns, we have IB schools and students who find their way there and go to the best universities in India and overseas.

Q. What is the typical profile of a student who takes up the IB board?

Mahesh | The profile of a student who goes into an IB school varies. There are students who are looking at overseas education, there’s no denying that. But, there are students who have been shifting between boards, or have been shifting cities. And there are students who understand having lived overseas that IB education is different, research-oriented, it helps students solve problems, do community service, develop as a person, and be critical thinkers. It also leads to your cognitive development, and thus, makes for a good choice. For students who’re willing to put in the rigour to developing their own personality, IB is a great choice in terms of the middle years and higher secondary years. In early years, if you’re looking at enjoying your education, happiness in going to school and learning, and learning how to learn, then IB primary education makes for a very good choice.

Q. Can you introduce to students what exactly the CBSE board is?

Aditi | CBSE is the largest national board in terms of numbers. It’s a board that came into being many years ago and the belief that it hasn’t changed over the years is not true. The last decade has seen a lot of changes coming in. I must say as a practitioner, a lot of changes have been necessitated because of the excellent work done by the IB. A lot of ideas have been taken from the IB, the GSCE, and ICSE, because every school and board wants to reach out to the children and provide a good education. It’s a misconception that CBSE is equal to rote learning. I’m a student of CBSE. If it was just rote learning then I wouldn’t have cleared class 12. I’m very bad at mugging things. It has to make sense to me otherwise it’s not possible.

For me, CBSE makes sense because it’s a good sounding board and a board for the masses and for every child. Regardless of whether the child is in a small town or a big city, there is something for all of them. It is almost like a way of life for me now, having been a student, a teacher, and now a principal for two decades, and being part of the CBSE. I see a lot of changes coming in as we go along.

Q. Is there a hierarchy amongst the different boards? Data suggests that there is a bias towards students who’re studying CBSE and cracking the examination.

Aditi | The data is more skewed towards CBSE because the paper setters of JEE and NEET refer to the CBSE and the NCERT books a lot. It’s just in alignment with the curriculum. But, there are also many students from ICSE and the IB who have cracked JEE and NEET. But if you ask them, you’ll know that they were studying the NCERT books as well.

It’s not a battle, it’s open ground. What we need to do is come together, share good practices, and allow students, without being judged to do what suits them. I’ve heard many people come to me saying that CBSE is so difficult and it’s better to choose IB. Let me tell them that IB is not easy. It is child-friendly, yes. But, it forces you to think independently. Having now become part of IB in DPS international, it’s not easy. The numbers in IB schools are definitely increasing. But not every city has an IB school, nor can every parent afford an IB education.

Mahesh | The reach of IB is increasing. Today, we have state schools offering IB, we have IB schools emerging from Kashmir all the way to the south, and hopefully, more will follow. In terms of subject marking, the nomenclature can sometimes become an issue. For example, Business Management will become Business Studies, and we have Mathematics Analyses and Interpretation, and so on. But, the maximum variation in subject matter content will be no more than 15%. IBDP is a rigorous program, with 5-6 subjects, including extended essays and research. Students learn to become independent learners who do research and a lot of activities. In some cases, it may not give them time to prepare for competitive exams. But if you’re spending most of your time in coaching centres, then you’re not doing justice to your school studies.

Q. Are you saying that students doing IB may not be able to do both, school and also coaching, for competitive exams?

Mahesh | See, you have internal essays, extended essays, theory of knowledge, etc. throughout the two years, so the students are engaged all the time. Because of the way that the program is structured, not all students will be able to do coaching as well.

Also Read | 'Coaching Important To Familiarise Students With Exam, Improves Rank,' Says IIT Delhi Professor

Q. How you teach matters and you said there’s a lot of rigour, no rote learning, and application-based learning. Can you touch base on these three things a bit more?

Aditi | The teacher decides how the student will receive the information, and the student decides how s/he is going to learn. There is no doubt about that. But, to paint CBSE as a board of rote learning is very unfair. Nowadays, there’s project-based learning in CBSE as well. We also have art integrated learning as well now which is a part of NEP. So, it includes subjects that are learnt through the arts, for example through music, dance, theatre, etc. Students are learning the periodic table through songs, for example. There is no rote based learning there. Students even change the song around to make it more fun. This connection between the head and the heart is being made, something that we’re all looking forward to implementing more.

There are many schools and students in far off places where we haven’t been able to have the kind of outreach we want. But, there are things that are happening within the CBSE, such as the things I mentioned earlier, which is bringing in a lot of joy, that so far, frankly, was only happening in other boards. So, those are the main changes that are happening in CBSE for the past decade.

Changes In CBSE Board Have Been Welcomed By Students

Mahesh | IB has two different programs - the IBDP, which is the 11th and 12th qualification. The other is IBCP, which is a careers program. In IBDP, there are 6 subject groups. Ideally, a student takes up one subject from each group. There’s a lot of breadth and depth in it. A student also has to take an extended essay, a 4000-word original research work, a 1600 work theory of knowledge, and put in the hours for creativity, action, and service (CAS). Most of it is research-oriented, applied learning and all of it happens in an interdisciplinary manner, not silos.

Q. Can we agree that, in a broader sense, IB has a bias towards students who’re studying abroad, and CBSE has a bias towards taking the central examination?

Aditi | In general, yes. But I think there is an equal number of students, if not more, who do go to study abroad with CBSE education. Of course, the sample size is large, so the percentages won’t be as large. But, CBSE students always have that option open to them. I know there are good colleges like LSR, Stephen’s, and Hindu that have taken IB students based on their predicted scores. But, I think there should be some system by which more IB students join such colleges with the same ease that ICSE or CBSE students can.

Mahesh | In India, there is a perception that IB leans more towards the Liberal Arts and Humanities, while CBSE is more Science-centric. But, if you look at the spread globally, then it is both the STEM subjects as well as the liberal arts that IB leans towards.

Q. I want my son to join IBCP. I want to know about its benefits. Do they need to give any exams and where should they join in India?

Mahesh | IB has a wonderful early years’ PYP program for ages 3 and upwards. The primary years’ program from class 1 till 5, the middle years’ program from classes 6 to 10, and for classes 10+2, there is IBDP, which is the diploma programme, and the IBCP, the careers’ program, which is a professional career’s course. For example, Artificial Intelligence, it’s a two-year deep dive into Artificial Intelligence, or say, Sports Management, or Fim Making, Psychology, Data Science, Robotics, etc. There are about 360 odd schools which are in various stages of the authorisation process and we’re seeing more and more schools taking on the IBCP.

Look for a school nearby and you’ll have a few IBCP schools. These are all good courses. There are various new-age universities like Ashoka that are looking at students very differently too. These students, when they go out as 21st-century learners, are ready for the world stage. The skills of the future are what we need to teach them, and they can get them through IBCP.

Q. If someone is looking at cracking competitive examinations in India, do you suggest parents to go through the CBSE module?

Aditi | I would never tell a parent that. But if the parent comes to me saying that my child is very keen on being a doctor and that IB won’t help with that, there’s very little I can say. There must be some reason why 8 out of 10 students CBSE students get through these exams.

Regardless of the board, I tell the parents that the students still have to clear the exams. About only 2 out of 10 IB students clear competitive exams. And when you ask them, even they say that they’re doing parallel study with the CBSE books.

Also Read | Tips For Last-Minute JEE Main Preparation From Mohit Tyagi

Q. Can you talk about the way an assessment happens in the CBSE board compared to other boards?

Aditi | Having been an evaluator for many years, it’s about the question of skill. We have a very clear answering scheme that’s laid out when evaluators assess. In the case that the student is answering something different than what is asked, it gets difficult. In such cases, evaluators look for areas where the student is making sense, keywords, or some concepts that have the right jargon, they do pick it up and give marks.

In my time, if we got 60%, parents were ecstatic. Nowadays, you get 60%, you don’t know where to go. I don’t know when the change happened. For example, it’s impossible to get 100 marks in English, but there are students who have. That means the students’ answers are aligning with the assessment schemes.

Q. Are you saying that whatever the student knows can be kept aside as long as they have those keywords in the answer?

Aditi | No, I think that’s an unfair statement. But there are many students who struggle in class to write an answer well. For such students, they need not go into the broader ideas and only remember that this is how they need to answer, to just remember this bit.

Q. What are the subject offerings that IB has and what’re the choices and freedom that a student has in selecting what s/he wants to study?

Mahesh | In the IBDP and IBCP, there are a lot of options for students to choose from. There are six subject groups and a student needs to take one subject from each subject group. A student who wishes to take medicine has to choose three Sciences. But, we believe that if you want to develop cognitive and critical thinking, you should balance it with language and Humanities. So, it’s well-rounded education. I encourage students to take one subject from each group. I think five subject groups they need to touch on. One can be an additional subject from one of the groups. We’re also providing percentages in transcripts to make it convenient for Indian students and universities.

Also Read | Choosing Optional Subjects: 5 Things To Keep In Mind

Q. What’re the choices and options that a student has in CBSE and how free are students to choose their subject groups?

Aditi | This is a problem of scale as CBSE schools are larger. As per CBSE, the child can take any five subjects. The problem is where will UGC slot that child? For example, will it be a Humanities child because he’s done History, will it be Commerce for he’s done Business Studies, or will it be Science student because he’s done Biology? Now with the NTA coming in with the CUET, I think that will also change. We have these three streams so to say, but now we’re changing the name of the stream to ‘groups’. But, we still have a very traditional mindset. Students still want to go with a particular group. We encourage them to take up six subjects for a well-rounded personality and skillset.

Mahesh | In our course IBCP, students will do two mainstream IBDP courses. They’ll do IBCP course, plus they will also deep dive into a career-related course which is a 2-year course, including industry internships.

Q. Up to what level is mathematics a necessity for a child to learn? And when can they go beyond Maths?

Mahesh | For IBDP, maths is compulsory. A student can take it at a standard level, or higher level. Based on the performance, the school will recommend either of the two. IB doesn’t treat standard or higher levels differently. It’s just the teaching hours that are more for the higher level.

Aditi | In CBSE, they can leave it after class 8 if they’re not able to cope with it. There is something called dyscalculia, wherein students have difficulty with numbers. If students can get that certificate, they can opt to move away from maths.

Also Read | Identifying Signs Of Learning Disability And Getting A Diagnosis

Q. How do CBSE schools cater to students with special needs?

Aditi | There’s a lot of accommodation for such students, and has been for the past decade. Right from giving them subjects of their choice without forcing them to do certain subjects, as I had mentioned with Maths, they’re allowed to drop a third language in junior school and a second language in senior school. They’re also allowed to drop Social Sciences if for some reason they find it difficult to deal with facts and dates. While giving board exams, they’re given extra time, a writer, etc. This is something that’s been in place for students with special needs, and most good schools have these accommodations in place right from the start.

Q. Because IB board also learns from all the experiences of other boards. it gathers from around the world in creating the curriculum and the pedagogy. Do you think there’s an advantage for a student who ultimately wants to be a global citizen?

Mahesh | Definitely, because IB advocates global citizenship and elements around it like international-mindedness. People mistake that with going overseas. You can be a good global citizen in your own country. Data shows that universities feel that IB students complete their higher education at a much higher level. They’re able to cope with the rigour and challenge of university life better. Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) is a very powerful thing in IB that involves community service. It enhances your college application when you go overseas because universities look at an X-factor rather than a score in the high nineties.

Q. In terms of IB, how does an IB curriculum deals with a student who’s not really responding in terms of scoring the right marks?

Mahesh | There are schools which give different kinds of experiences. We don’t always look at marks. We don’t talk about pass or fail, so to speak. Yes, you’re either awarded an IB diploma or you’re not. But, students who get lesser scores are also able to find their way to good universities. So, IB aligns well with those because it’s not really about marks but what you’re bringing to the university. The mission of IB is to make the world a better place. So, failure and learning from failure is important, and this is an important IB learner profile attribute.

Aditi | I’ve always said that failure is an event. There’s so much to learn from failure, not just for the person but for everybody. The one thing that I’ve tried to do is to not have so much competition. It’s not a race for coming first in dance or being the best singer. We have more festivals, where everybody enjoys and they learn. Initially, when I organised festivals, only five schools came. But, we must have done something right because the next year 31 schools came, and then 40. My mantra is that you learn by watching other people too, when you see them dancing or painting or doing theatre, you learn from that. So, failure is a word that we don’t like to use. Of course, there are marks. We’ve brought down the marks necessary to pass from 40% to 33%. But, that is not something that we generally see. Usually, the parents and the students are making the effort to push themselves.

Q. What would be your concluding advice to parents and students?

Mahesh | It’s a myth that IB schools are very expensive. There are affordable IB schools, and then there are expensive ones. It varies because IB doesn’t restrict schools or say that you should be charging no more than a given amount. IB only mandates that all school teachers need to be trained. There are very affordable schools as well. There are also many IB schools that have very generous scholarships, both in India and overseas.

Aditi | I’ll finish by repeating what I said in the beginning. There are no good or bad boards. It’s purely the parent’s choice and perspective. I’d rather use the term schools. All good schools, should look at learning and make the students holistic learners. It’s not just about the marks. It’s about what you’re doing. Sometimes, children with not so great scores have been admitted to a good university in India and overseas. And, students who were very happy with their 98-99% did not get in. So, marks are not everything. The misconception that CBSE is all about marks needs to go away. There are a lot of changes happening nowadays. Unfortunately, because of the scale, it does not come out properly or reflect fast enough.

Watch Now | Webinar: Choosing Your Board: CBSE Or IB?