New Delhi, February 16
From the 2011 academic session, students of Classes XI and XII across the country will study a uniform science and math curriculum. Currently, course content of these critical subjects varies with the state school board an institution is affiliated to.

The idea is to have, for every student, a level playing field for entry to professional colleges. The government today said it had the approval of all school boards - including state boards - to teach Plus One and Two students core content in math, physics, chemistry and biology, from 2011 and work towards a single, national-level entrance exam for all engineering and medical courses in India from 2013. Gradually, such an exam would be extended for entry to colleges of other disciplines, such as law.

For the national entrance test proposal, a task force would be constituted to recommend the way forward after accommodating the concerns of different states that are already conducting their respective exams for entry to state-level medical and engineering colleges.

One test would mean the end of plenty like IIT-JEE, AIEEE and state exams for engineering colleges and various state-level PMTs, beside national level PMT, which the CBSE conducts. This, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry believes, would lessen the burden on students, who have to prepare for different exams, which bring their own levels of stress.

Though the idea of a national-level entrance test for engineering and medicine would require a lot of firming up, the Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) today decided to adopt the uniform curriculum in science and math. The consensus between boards followed a year-long exercise by the CBSE, which held workshops on core curriculum in different states. It incorporated into the syllabi the that came from 20 different boards engaged in conducting Class XI and XII exams.

“We now have a consensus among boards to teach common content in physics, chemistry, math and biology that the CBSE has developed. The NCERT would be asked to make the necessary alterations in the course to conform it to agreed-upon content. Different boards will however be free to fix their own learning, teaching objectives and determine ways of teacher training. What they will now do uniformly is -- teach one science, math course at class XI, XII level,” said an expert involved with writing the core curriculum.

“By 2013, the taskforce will tell us the basis of conducting the single test, also what weightage, if any, to be given to class XII marks in that exam,” Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal today said.