ICSE and CBSE tend to face discrimination at the level of degree colleges too, as most colleges give first preference to their junior college students. Our country has so many different boards; it is difficult to compare students across boards. Change in that direction is certainly welcome. Why, indeed, can’t we have just one uniform board that is credible, unbiased and consistent in every part of the country? I feel sorry for parents and children who move from one part of the country to another. This certainly does not help the cause of mobility of the labour force. And we talk of the world shrinking and the merits of a global world!

Almost 90 per cent of students who pass their 10th standard from our school opt to study in our senior secondary section while around 10 per cent switch over to the state board. Enforcing the proposal would require us to increase our seats in our 11th standard to accommodate more students.

Till we have a single board, instead of running down competing boards — with some considering themselves more elite, others more application-oriented and still others more wide reaching or having the local flavour — it’s time these boards, even if they have to co-exist, learnt from the best practices of the others and upgraded themselves and left the relative ranking to the parents when they choose where they want to put their children. I am sure if there is political will, a meeting ground can be arrived at and with proper moderation and mediation, a solution can be found.

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