When choosing the best educational board for your child's career, it is essential to know the purpose behind its inception. While the foundation of the CBSE board was to impart STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, the ICSE board was founded to help students have an excellent command of English literature. So, when considering CBSE or ICSE which is better for future in Hindi, the answer inevitably is CBSE board.
The first language in ICSE boards is English, with two separate papers on language and literature. The conception of this board was intended to replace Cambridge-style education after the British raj had ended in India.
Even now, the accessibility of the ICSE board is limited to metro cities where there is a need for English as a spoken language. The number of schools affiliated with the ICSE board is much lower than that of CBSE for the same reason.
While the ICSE board has second and third languages as a part of their curriculum, Hindi isn't one of the primary modes of communication. All schools affiliated with the CBSE board do not mandatorily have to be English medium. There are also Hindi medium schools that are affiliated with the CBSE board. In such cases, their subject matter, question papers, and written language are all in Hindi languages and not English.
ICSE board offers Hindi as either the second language or third language, depending on what a student chooses during admission. For example, if a student is admitted to an ICSE school in West Bengal, they can either select Bengali as a second language or Hindi as a second language. If they choose Bengali, then their third language becomes Hindi. Again, if they choose Hindi as their second language, then their third language becomes Bengali.
Third language is not an integral part of the curriculum of the ICSE board. However, choosing Hindi as a second language gives priority to the subject, and it is studied from primary classes to at least standard 10. After that, it either becomes optional or remains mandatory, depending on how the school decides to include/exclude it while prioritizing main subjects like science and commerce.
Even when Hindi as a second language is given priority in the ICSE board, English thrives as the most crucial subject. ICSE schools also refrain from communicating in vernacular languages. Students are not allowed to speak in second and third languages unless they are attending vernacular class.
While the ICSE board does not prioritize Hindi, it is not like the CBSE board emphasizes languages. CBSE is focused on preparing students for competitive examinations after passing the 12th board. The board prioritizes making students eligible for government examinations.
While language becomes an inevitable part of the process, the CBSE board also emphasizes the first language or the medium. So, if a school is an English medium but affiliated with CBSE, English will be preferred more, while vernacular subjects will be prioritized thereafter.
Learning languages is an integral part of every board, but the first language is the medium through which one can understand all subjects. So, if your child studies in English medium, this subject will be more important than a second or third language. A second language, Hindi, will have a preference similar to the one used in ICSE boards. However, if a CBSE school is a Hindi medium, then the command and grasp of Hindi becomes more important.
CBSE boards give you the opportunity to choose a Hindi medium school, making education more accessible to everyone in India. However, ICSE boards only have English as their first language, so Hindi is always the second or third language in priority.
The answer to CBSE or ICSE, which is better for the future in Hindi, becomes clear when we understand the importance of language medium. CBSE is the only board that gives us an opportunity to pursue education equally between English and Hindi mediums.
State boards offer English and local languages as an option. But Hindi is not the local language in every state. For example, the West Bengal board allows you to choose between the Bengali medium and the English medium. Selecting either of the two determines which language you inevitably give more preference to because that is the language medium. However, being a central board, CBSE provides us with the option to prioritize Hindi when chosen as the medium.
The first language across all boards gets priority because all subjects are based on the same language. In the ICSE board, it is only English; in the state board, it is the local language and English, but in the CBSE board, you can choose between English and Hindi.
While CBSE boards prepare us for STEM education, the language medium always gets precedence. If English is the primary language, before understanding sentences, formation, and having the ability to read and write, a student cannot master other subjects. The first language is always of prime importance as understanding all other subjects is only possible when this is covered.
Second and third languages also gain importance as most Indians are bilingual, if not trilingual. Being bilingual comes with a set of benefits as we have more capability to grasp subject matters. It improves communication skills and nurtures us towards academic brilliance.
DPWS Barasat is an English medium school affiliated with the CBSE board. Hindi is spoken in school and respective classes as a means to communicate, but we prioritize our first language. The medium of education is of utmost importance to make all subjects easily understandable. However, second and third languages have their respective importance and are prioritized based on the curriculum suggested by our esteemed board.
