School curriculum should aim to link learning with everyday life wherever possible, the chief of the ICSE council told school heads on Monday.

Joseph Emmanuel, chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), was in Calcutta for the 103rd annual conference of the Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India, held at La Martiniere for Girls.

Addressing over 150 principals from across the country, Emmanuel said the council is preparing curriculum and resource material that will be shared with schools.

“We are not going to make any sea change in the curriculum, but the focus will be on the approach to teaching, connecting learning with real life and prioritising skilling,” he said.

He added that schools are free to develop their own resource materials, but these must connect concepts to real-life applications and measure learning outcomes — which is how board exams are set to evolve in the coming years.

In 2026, ICSE and ISC board exams will have 40% competency-based questions, marking a gradual shift from rote learning to application-based assessment. By 2027, the share of such questions will rise to 50%.

The revised curriculum up to Class VIII, aligned with the National Curriculum Framework and “global standards”, will be shared with schools on a pilot basis in 2027-28.

“International assessments evaluate a learner’s ability to apply concepts in real-life scenarios and are not textbook oriented. To make our teaching and learning relevant to a global society in an ever-evolving world, we need to redefine the curriculum, and you are welcome to participate in strengthening this process,” Emmanuel said.

Chatting to Metro on the sidelines, he spoke of the existing primary and middle years programme of the International Baccalaureate (IB) as a reference point for application-based learning.

Beyond exams

In his one-hour 20-minute address, during which he also took questions, Emmanuel emphasised that too much focus is on exams — routine school tests and board exams alike.

“All teaching-learning practices are focused on achieving high marks in ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) exams, not only in CISCE schools but across all boards in the country,” he said.

He added that individual capability, talent and potential are often sidelined. “Co-scholastic areas are getting neglected in our institutions, and more attention is being given to academics. We need to shift this pattern.”

Teaching to test and achieving high marks in board exams, he said, is not the goal of learning. “What remains with you after the exam is the real learning,” Emmanuel told Metro.

Conference in Calcutta

The city is hosting the conference after five years; the last meeting here was in January 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The three-day event is being hosted by the Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in India, West Bengal Branch, along with the central body of the association.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee sent her best wishes to participants.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, the chief guest, highlighted the contribution of the Anglo-Indian community in education, noting that Christian institutions run 54,000 schools nationwide, second only to the government.