CBSE’s new curriculum, from 2026-27 onwards, offers two levels of Mathematics and Science: Standard and Advanced. The standard Mathematics and Science, from grade IX onwards, will cover common prescribed content and is compulsory for all students. The advanced syllabus is optional, intended for students who wish to pursue advanced content in these subjects in the future. Will these changes help in addressing the anxiety caused by Mathematics and Science subjects among a large number of high schoolers pursuing the CBSE curriculum?

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The CBSE now admits that its ‘one size fits all’ approach, followed since its inception in 1963, was erroneous. The one-size-fits-all approach has created an enormous amount of anxiety and stress, not only among students, but also among parents and teachers, resulting in a lot of disinvestment in the future of many students and their family relationships.

The opportunity for choice, between standard and advanced, shows an approach towards competency-based education through which the unique ability levels of various students are respected and valued. This, further, can contribute to an inclusive school climate, in which everyone is counted, and to a better family climate by letting off the steam built within the family atmosphere. Most importantly, for the future economy, this could offer a self-aware labour force.

Social pressures

All the above is ideal, if implemented in letter and spirit. The psycho-social meritocracy deeply rooted in the Indian social system may challenge this new change, treating the choice between Standard and Advanced not as a facilitator of better learning and competency building, but as damage to the pride and privilege of the family.

Indian families consider their children as intergenerational instruments for progressing their existing social, cultural, and economic capital. Hence, the option of selecting a standard syllabus over the advanced one would be treated as a demotion rather than a valid and democratic choice that respects students’ tastes.

Advanced Mathematics and Science would be considered by parents as a passage to elite enclaves like IITs and prestigious medical institutes like AIIMS, JIPMER, etc. Thus, the option of choice between standard and advanced would convert subject anxiety into status anxiety in the domestic setting. The standard option would be treated as a passage to lower-level jobs and a low standard of living in the future, and the advanced option as a yardstick for a bright future.

Coaching industry

Will schools promote free choice of levels? This is another critical issue in the Indian context, where schools and coaching centres work hand in glove with each other in the education industry. High schools serve as incubators for the sustainable future of the coaching industry.

Schools and coaching industries strategically advance a myth: ‘Universal excellence’! As advanced Science and Mathematics are critical for the sustainability of coaching centres, they sway teachers, parents, and students to make them believe that once you opt for the standard syllabus, ‘there is no going back’, and hence opting for Advanced Mathematics and Science is more desirable for the future.

The rest is the job of the motivation division of these industries, where students and parents are assured of high percentages through effective pedagogic support, advanced and student-friendly learning materials, and an assessment treadmill. All these together could manufacture a demand for ‘difficulty’, ‘stress’, and ‘anxiety’ in the school education system.

Assessment culture

A word analysis of the CBSE Secondary School Curriculum Part 1 (2026-27) reveals that the most repeated word is ‘Assessment’, appearing 171 times in a 47-page introductory part of the curriculum. The word ‘Learning’ appears only in the second position, with 154 occurrences.

The linguistic dominance of assessment over learning shows that assessment still remains a critical force in the school curriculum. This indicates the undue importance that Indian society gives to high-stakes entrance tests, which the official policy documents refuse to defy and continue to carry within their structure.

Thus, the two-tier system of Science and Mathematics has serious implications for the coaching industry in screening their future inputs. This, further, has implications for them in augmenting their business network to create new vistas of coaching and extend the trade of competitiveness into other higher education programmes targeted at students of standard Science and Mathematics.

Democratic choice

The two-tier system has benefits, as it respects the choice of students, at least notionally. To transcend the classification from just a labelling exercise to an appealing democratic initiative, we need to disentangle the ‘decision of choosing’ the standard and advanced courses from the social hierarchy.

Though a very difficult task, this is necessary to make it a true curricular revolution rooted in democratic principles. Decoupling choices from the social hierarchy can ensure that those who choose standard courses will not be reduced to a ghetto of underachievers; instead, their unique talents and abilities can be respected and converted into optimal utilisation.

Further, there are students who develop interest in Science and Mathematics in later periods of their lives. Hence, the choice should not be irreversible, as students must be allowed to pursue their passion at any point of time later in life. So, we need a door that is never permanently closed, but rather a two-way swinging one.

(By Amruth G. Kumar, Professor, School of Education, Central University of Kerala)