English elocution makes an entry and environment education exits in sweeping but staggered changes to the ICSE and ISC curricula from 2010, meant to strengthen communication skills and equip students better for competitive exams.

The first set of students to be affected by the changes, announced on Tuesday, will be the Class IX batch of 2010 that will write the ICSE exams in 2012.

English gets top priority in the reforms at both the secondary and higher secondary levels — an additional textbook, 10 marks each in Paper I for speaking and listening skills, and an extra half-an-hour each to write both papers.

“The idea is to ensure that each and every child studying ICSE and ISC develops not only good writing skills in English but also the ability to communicate well in the language,” Gerry Arathoon, the additional secretary and officiating chief executive officer of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), told Metro.

If English gets weightage, the second language paper goes off the must-pass list. From 2012, ICSE examinees won’t have to clear the second language paper to be declared successful in the exam.

Environment education, which the council considers an “extra burden” but a section of students eyes as a “scoring subject” that boosts aggregates, will cease to be a separate paper for both ICSE and ISC in 2013.

The three batches that will appear for either the Class X or Class XII exams till 2012 are, however, required to complete the syllabus.

So what happens to the Supreme Court ruling that made environment education compulsory from primary level till graduation?

“Many students are finding it difficult to cope with the additional load of environment education as a separate subject. We have decided to incorporate the environment lessons into subjects like biology and geography,” said a senior official of the council.

But Aranyajit Ghatak, a Class X student at Lycee School, said he had no complaints against environment education. “The EVE paper is rather easy and helps raise our aggregates.... But not having to pass the second language is a relief for students like me who are not too good in Bengali. Everyone will say that Bengalis should learn Bengali but it is a big load off our shoulders,” he added.

Apart from easing some of the burden, the changes at the ISC level are also designed to attract meritorious students who would otherwise opt for the CBSE curriculum because it is designed to prepare them for national competitive exams. The executive committee of the council, which met last month to finalise the reforms, decided to make the ISC syllabi for math, physics, chemistry and biology on a par with the CBSE course.

“We had urged the council to make the ISC syllabus more student-friendly and are happy that it has done so,” said Sujoy Biswas, the principal of Rammohan Mission School.

S. Raha, who teaches English at St Thomas School, said the decision to assess the English-speaking and listening skills was an innovative one that would challenge both teachers and students.

Government official Sutapa Basu, the mother of a Class IX student, doubted whether an internal assessment of speaking and listening skills would be transparent. “Otherwise, it’s a good idea,” she said.

For Sarthak Chakraborty of Class X, St Xavier’s Collegiate School, the accent on English in the syllabus rejig has “two sides” to it”. “It will be tough but help those who intend studying English in college,” he said.

But Shukla Bhattacharya, a teacher at Our Lady Queen of the Missions School, said “it was not a good thing” to take environment education off the subject list and make the second-language paper redundant. “Not making the second language compulsory means students will take the subject even more lightly,” she feared.

Bengal has around 300 ICSE schools, of which 150-odd are in Calcutta and its outskirts.