Indian Students May Soon Be Able to Opt for for Subjects from Multiple Disciplines Together

Indian students may soon be able to opt for subjects from multiple disciplines together. The HRD Ministry in India wants to give students the flexibility of having multi-disciplinary subjects from streams of Science, Arts and Commerce together at Class-XI, XII and graduation.
The move has been initiated by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and the ministry has set up a ten-member panel, headed by S. C. Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, to present recommendations on allowing flexibility in subject combinations to students at senior secondary and graduation level. Apparently the committee will submit its report by September this year.

At present, students are able to study subjects of science, commerce and social science together at Class-XII level in certain boards like CBSE and ICSE. However, such combinations are not allowed by the state boards.

Similarly, universities mainly allow students to either prefer Science, Commerce or Arts streams at graduation level. Students are not able to pursue multi-disciplinary subjects together.

The committee will also suggest mechanisms for comparing results of students under different boards. This step assumes significance as experts feel there is huge discrepancy in the evaluation and examination systems of different boards.

So how will this help you with your application to universities abroad, whether at the undergraduate or post-graduate level? Well, it will
• Enable you to demonstrate a well rounded set of skills and knowledge base which US Universities in particular look for.
• Further, by enabling you to make multi-disciplinary choices you can pursue areas of interest to you further helping you to stand out as an applicant.
• Lastly, it will help you to explain the strength of the results in your particular board’s exams – so that universities abroad do not under estimate your results.