Facing admission woes, IB students shift to CBSE/ICSE

Amrita Mallik, a student of Class VIII, recently shifted from an International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Gurgaon to one affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

She is not the lone one. Various students from her school as well as other schools, affliated to the IB Board in Gurgaon, have changed to CBSE or ICSE-based schools.

“We shifted our daughter to a CBSE school in Class IX this year. We wanted various options in India as well as abroad to be open to her. Earlier, it was tedious to convert grades to make them applicable for Indian institutes,” says Vidhi Trikha, a city-based doctor.

Gurgaon houses the largest number of expatriates in the country and is known for its high-end private schools offering international curriculum like IB and CBSE-International. However, with awareness about the disadvantages of the system, students have begun shifting to CBSE or ICSE-based schools.

According to a recently conducted C-fore survey by Hindustan Times in Gurgaon, a majority of the respondents (67%) said they would send their children to CBSE/ICSE schools rather than international board schools.

Sudha Goel, principal, Scottish High International School, said, “Students are drifting away from IB schools as they face problems while securing admission in Delhi University (DU) and IITs.”

The IB results are declared on July 6, by when admissions in DU and other institutes are almost complete.

“I have seen just one or two students getting through DU in the last three years. A majority of students struggle with average and below average scores and a few get an above 40 score,” said Ritu Dhingra, a consultant education psychologist with various IB schools in Gurgaon.

Dhingra said IB was not recognised by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) which evaluates courses, syllabi, standard and credits of foreign universities and equates them in relation to various programmes offered by Indian universities.