In a major development, Supreme Court dismissed the PIL seeking the implementation of ‘one nation one education board’. The plea filed by BJP Leader Adhwini Upadhyay sought a common syllabus and curriculum for the children between age groups 6 to 14 by merging the two national level boards – Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Board or ICSE board.
Supreme Court bend headed by Justice DU Chandrachud told the petitioner that such decisions cannot be taken by the court. “How can you ask the court to merge one board with the other? These are not the functions of the court,” asked the court. The apex court, however, directed the petitioner to approach the government with the proposal.
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Many people have earlier proposed the one nation one education board. This proposal has been rejected and even invoked strong reactions from various parts of the country.
At present, India has three national level boards namely the CBSE, the ICSE Board and the NIOS which is a national open school board. Besides this, every state in the country has an education board. Some states like West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala etc. have two separate boards – one for Class 10 or high school and the other for higher secondary – classes 11 and 12. Besides these, many states have separate boards for open school as well as madrasa education in the country.
