I am attempting to locate text books used in CBSE and ISC. In an excellent initiative, the NCERT (National center for education and research in teaching, India) has brought online its CBSE text books. Just to make my task difficult, the only text books that are missing are for Computer Science:-) One can read all other books in glorious PDF, indexed by chapter, and colors intact! So I am locating paper text books for computer science and maybe will get in touch with NCERT to demand that CS books also be put online.
The situation with ISC is far more complex. Since the choice of text books is left to the school, the quality of the course varies even more dramatically across schools, unlike in CBSE. Again, I am attempting to locate some text books for ISC. Will update soon.
Locating final examination question paper for CBSE has been a bit easier. Here are a few sample exam papers.
Wheras ISC papers are hard to get on line. The administrating body of ISC, the CISCE (Council of Indian School Certificate Examinations) appears to be just that, a body for administering examinations, again, unlike the CBSE, which is concerned about education. The website of CISCE is very minimal in terms of information for students or teachers. However, the data for the number of students that appeared for the XII and X exams is available: 25,000 and 65,000, respectively. However, the year for which this data applies is not mentioned.
Unable to find a similar number for CBSE, though the site mentions that there are about 9000 affiliated schools. I need to get back to find numbers for CBSE/CISCE in comparison with the State school boards across India. This will allow us to focus our efforts based on the maximum benefit for maximum number principle. For the moment, I will focus on CBSE.
It will be good to locate the text books used in Israel high schools that are following El-Gazer and Harel committee’s syllabus. I have not been able to locate any so far. Any pointers?
My idea was to start with the curriculum, the syllabus, the text books and the question papers as the basis for understanding the current state of computer science in high schools. Even a cursory look at the available material for CBSE, by all accounts the highest quality framework for high school education in India, wakes one up to the magnitude of the task ahead.