Half-hour more for science papers in ICSE

Those set to appear for ICSE examinations in 2014 have a reason to cheer. They will get more time for science papers than their peers did.

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), on Tuesday, announced the decision to increase the durations of Physics, Chemistry and Biology papers from one-and-a-half hours to two hours.

The duration of Mathematics paper will, however, remain unchanged at two-and-a-half hours.

"We have revised the time schedule for science papers following students' demand. We expect it to reduce stress among the examinees," said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the council.

It has also been decided that the environment science paper of the ICSE exams, that was scheduled on February 15, will be shifted to a new date as Saraswati Puja falls on that day.

In place of manual registration, the council has also proposed to start e-registration and e-affiliation from next year. Students of classes IX and XI can individually e-register with council for taking the examination through schools. Similarly, schools can seek affiliation online. "This will make the system more efficient," said another council official.

The council has also decided to upgrade some ICSE schools to ISC and award them provisional affiliation even if they have still not received the permanent no-objection-certificates (NOC) from the state government. "Till now, only those schools that could produce a permanent NOC from the state government were upgraded. Now, they will be upgraded to plus two (ISC) with only a provisional one. They have to procure a permanent NOC in due course and submit the same to the council. Then we shall grant permanent affiliation to the school for ISC," Arathoon added.

"The council has decided that the land required should not be binding for permanent affiliation and introduction of ISC XII. Schools, who were granted provisional affiliation prior to the implementation of the guidelines of affiliations in May 2006, can be inspected when they apply for permanent affiliation or introduction of ISC class XII," said Arathoon.

English syllabus will undergo a sea change from 2015 onwards, "We have decided to reduce the syllabus. The number of prose has been cut short from 15 to 10 and poems too have been reduced from 15 to 10. The same is with the ISC syllabus in English. The syllabus of other subjects has been revised in keeping with the modern day demand."

The city is set to host the annual conference of the Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate, 2012, in the Science City from November 21 to 23.