Calcutta, Sept. 30 :    Calcutta, Sept. 30:  Want to appear for ICSE 2004? Make sure you register yourself with the Indian Council for Secondary Education in 2002. Responding to complaints of 'irregularities', the Council has made it 'mandatory' for students of ICSE-affiliated schools to get registered in Class IX. At present, registration is carried out in Class X, just before the school-leaving examination. 'The new system will enable us to keep a record of the number of students to be sent up by a particular school for the ICSE exam and ensure that every examinee has studied in that particular school for the last two years leading up to the exams,' says Council chairman Neil O'Brien. 'It is essential for every ICSE examinee to complete the course without changing schools midstream,' he adds. According to the rules, an ICSE-affiliated school cannot admit new students in Class X. But the Council has been receiving complaints that 'quite a few schools' have been taking in students from non-affiliated schools months before the final exams. Council sources say 'donation' is sought - and got - as these students are desperate to gain enrolment in 'recognised' schools. Guardians have to shell out anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000. A large number of English-medium schools have come up in the city and elsewhere in the state over the past few years with the ever-increasing demand for 'English-medium education'. Many of these schools are now awaiting affiliation from the Council but continue to flourish by ensuring that their students can 'slip into' a recognised school in Class X. But in many cases, students have been duped. 'There have been cases where a school has taken the donation but not registered the student,' a senior Council official says. There is another side to the story. 'Often, schools send up 'unfit' candidates for the Board exam as the money received as 'donation' becomes the only consideration,' the official adds. The Council's move is being seen as part of the measures it is introducing to ensure that the few lakh students who appear for the exam every year get a standardised, quality education. Changes in the ICSE syllabus have already been effected to help students. Schools have been asked to make 'field-studies' compulsory for students; for instance, they have been instructed to take their business mathematics students to the bank to see bank-accounts are operated. Additional emphasis on 'social activities and environmental science' is another new feature in the syllabus, say officials.