With April fast approaching, this is the right time you start preparing your children to send them back to school. Gone are those days when glitter pens, sparkly notebooks and chunky backpacks enhanced their interest. Nowadays, a new school year is almost a nightmare for the majority of children. It brings a feeling of stress and anxiety, irrespective of their age. If you want to minimise the level of tension and agitation when getting your student ready to go back to school, there are a few tips you can follow.

4 Useful Tips To Help Your Children Get Back To School

• Decide A Fixed Bedtime

Though kids go to bed late during summer, their bedtime should be fixed. It will become easier for them to adjust their sleeping schedule once their school starts. It is the responsibility of the parents to choose a school bedtime and start following it at least a week before their school starts. If you feel that a sudden change in their night will disrupt their sleeping pattern, work on it slowly. A sudden change in their bedtime might become a shock for them on their first day of school.

• Make A Homework Routine

Children should know that they have to complete their homework on time before their school starts. Not only do you have to create a homework routine but also choose a silent electronic-free space where children can complete their assignments peacefully. They should also be given some time every day when they can indulge in academic activities like reading, writing or flashcards. This will make transition to real homework easier.

• Choose A Place To Keep Their School Items

If you don’t want your house to become a mess once their school starts, make sure you choose a specific place where your children can keep their school items. This will prevent them from dropping their backpacks, shoes, lunchboxes and jackets at random places once they are back from school. They won’t also have to waste their time running and looking for the school items they need every morning.

• Buy Some New Items

Just enrolling your child in the best school isn’t sufficient, there are a few things you have to buy before their new school year starts. Sort the old clothing and check which dress still fits. Few items you should definitely have in the wardrobe are socks, pants, t-shirts and shoes. Though buying a few new things won’t punch a hole in your pocket, they will help in reducing your child’s stress level. Donate the clothes which don’t fit instead of throwing them away.

These being said, it’s time you start following the tips stated above and helping your children get back to school will become easier.

As the child sets his/her foot in the academic threshold, the dilemma of selecting the right board strikes the parents. It is indeed a confusing aspect for the parents to decide on the right educational board for their child. This helps them to choose the right career path going ahead. Making the right choice of the board is essential.  A large part of the early progress of a child’s aptitude and knowledge depends on the decision of the board.

The kind of exposure a child gets from studies is primarily based on the educational board opted for. There are two most recognized boards in the Indian education system. They are,

• ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education)
• CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education)

The boards are diverse and have differences, as well. Here is a brief comparison between them to help you understand, which will be a better option for your child. The comparison has been drawn based on the abilities, functionalities, and the standards maintained by both the boards.

Exploring the Major Differences

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) conducts the ICSE Board. It is an offshoot of the Cambridge IGCSE. The system existed during the British era. Later on, it was taken over by the Anglo Indian Board. Right now it is governed by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations. The course curriculum is mainly taken from National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). It has the most detailed syllabus. This is the reason why ICSE and ISC are the two toughest examinations to appear for in Grade X and Grade XII respectively.

CBSE, on the other hand, is the board recognized by NCERT. It was started as an initiative to operate a network of the middle schools or the Kendriya Vidyalayas network. This was mainly to cater to the requirements of the government employees having transferable jobs to provide quality education to their wards. The board conducts two examinations,

• All India Senior School Certificate Examination, AISSCE (Class XII).
• All India Secondary School Examination, AISSE (Class X)

It is still one of the most preferred educational modules availed across the country.

Regular and Private Candidates:

A large number of schools across India are affiliated to CBSE board.  It allows both regular and private students from other schools not affiliated to the board to appear for the examination. ICSE board never allows anyone to take the examination unless he/she belongs to a school affiliated to ICSE.

Medium of Instruction:

The CBSE course is available in both Hindi and English as a medium of the instruction. ICSE, on the other hand, only recommends English as the medium of instruction.

Recognition of Board

CBSE has a better recognition by the Government of India while ICSE has gathered worldwide fame recognition as equivalent to senior examination in various foreign educational systems.

Curriculum

ICSE comprises a much detailed syllabus. It also has a balanced focus on language, arts, and science. The CBSE curriculum, on the other hand, has a slightly different approach. Most of its focus is towards science and math and their applications. That’s why CBSE course is much useful to qualify in various entrance exams to be eligible for engineering and medical studies.

Evaluation or Assessments

If the differences are explored in terms of assessment or evaluation, then the ICSE exam emphasizes more on practical tests, lab work, and internal evaluations than CBSE mode of study.