ICSE, ISC students recall knitting sweaters, socks for soldiers of Indo-Pak, Indo-China wars

Few know that until 1975, Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Class 10 and Indian School Certificate (ISC) Class 12 examination papers were still set and evaluated in England under the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). The council’s journey from British supervision to full Indian autonomy mirrors the very spirit of Azad’s call for an education system free from colonial dependence – a story of evolution, resilience, and quiet nation-building.

Initial years

CISCE was founded in 1958 in New Delhi, operating initially from a single rented room in Dholpur House on Shahjahan Road. At its inception, the Council inherited around 300 schools previously affiliated with Cambridge. Over the years, it expanded its base, shifting offices within the capital – first to Nizamuddin East, and later to Nehru Place – as its operations and network of affiliated schools grew.

In the decades after Independence, India was still finding its footing – building institutions, rewriting laws, and reimagining education. The British system, despite its colonial legacy, was seen as a tested model of academic rigour. Cambridge had long been the gold standard for schools serving the elite and upper-middle-class families – from the children of Indian Civil Service officers to missionaries and teachers trained under the Raj. Retaining the system post-1947 ensured continuity and global recognition at a time when India had yet to establish its own examination infrastructure.

Push for autonomy

Even after 1947, the Cambridge system was retained to ensure stability and maintain established academic standards while the young nation built its own examination infrastructure. The arrangement meant papers were shipped by air to and from England. Most subjects were set and marked by British examiners, while Indian languages were evaluated locally.

Subjects requiring specialised cultural and linguistic knowledge, particularly Indian languages, were handled by qualified examiners within India throughout this period. From 1966, Indian examiners were trained to take over fully, with the first wholly Indian-set and marked papers appearing in the academic year 1975.

The push for autonomy began much earlier – in 1952, the All-India Certificate Examination Conference, chaired by Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, formally backed the creation of an Indian alternative. Leaders such as Frank Anthony, founding CISCE Chairman, and AET Barrow, its first Secretary, provided the legal and administrative framework for the transition.

CISCE founder chairman and secretary (Image: CISCE/ special arrangement)

For many schools, including Welham Girls’ School in Dehradun, established in 1957, this system shaped the early decades. Before affiliating with CISCE in 1994, Welham followed the Senior Cambridge examination. Students sat for the famous blue-paper exams sent from Cambridge, and scripts were dispatched back to England for marking – a practice followed across much of the former British Empire. “Students were well aware their papers were being marked overseas, but it was more a logistical arrangement than a defining feature of education at Welham,” school officials recall.

Class picture of 1959 batch with Miss Grace Mary Linnell, founding principal of Welham Girls’ School (special arrangement)

‘Less about distrust and more about preparedness’

The reluctance to hand over examination responsibilities to Indian teachers was less about distrust and more about preparedness. There was an acute shortage of trained examiners capable of handling large-scale assessments with the same standardisation that Cambridge offered.

For nearly two decades, British examiners and advisers continued mentoring Indian educators. Their salaries were often much higher than those of Indian teachers – around Rs 700 to Rs 800 per month in the early 1950s, compared to Rs 300 to Rs 400 for Indian counterparts – making the system not only foreign but financially top-heavy.

Exam timeline, early batches

Examinations were typically held in March, with answer scripts sent to England and results arriving by post nearly two months later – sometimes even longer, depending on shipping delays. In the 1950s, fewer than 10,000 students appeared annually across India, most of them from missionary or Anglo-Indian schools in cities like Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras.

Welham Girls’ School students interacting with the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (Special arrangement)

In 2025, CISCE recorded over 2.5 lakh candidates appearing for the Class 10 examination across 2,803 schools and 99,551 candidates took the Class 12 exams from 1,460 schools. The exams are held in February and March and results are declared in May. However, this year, the CISCE Class 10 and Class 12 results were declared on April 30.

The earliest batches were small and homogenous – largely from affluent, English-speaking families. Girls formed less than 25 per cent of examinees in the early 1960s, as most girls’ schools were still transitioning from vernacular- to English-medium curricula. The first Indian cohort under CISCE saw a pass percentage of around 70 per cent, reflecting both the rigorous marking system and the socio-economic background of the students.

The Welham experience

In its early years, Welham students travelled to The Doon School for examinations, with scripts handled under strict protocols before being shipped abroad. Students recall answer sheets sealed with red wax and packed in iron trunks marked “Air Mail – London”. The invigilators often wore khadi saris or safari suits – a symbol of the changing India – while the question papers still bore the Cambridge crest. Teachers remember the excitement when the results finally arrived by post, sometimes weeks after the term had ended.

“We would wait for the headmistress to open the telegram from Cambridge – it was a moment of both pride and nervous anticipation,” an alumna, who now resides in Pune, remembers.

There was no sense of cultural disconnect despite papers being checked abroad. The school’s ethos – shaped by its Sanskrit motto Artha Shanti Phala Vidya (The aim of knowledge is to bring peace), Indian dress code, and celebration of Indian traditions – ensured a deep-rooted sense of identity.

Transition to Indian-set exams, syllabus, NCF

The transition to Indian-set examinations began in the 1970s with subjects like Hindi, and the nationwide adoption of the ICSE/ISC 10+2 structure brought the full shift.

Across India, schools such as St Paul’s, Darjeeling; Bishop Cotton, Bangalore; and La Martiniere for Girls, Calcutta, shared similar experiences.

Each retained an “Indian soul within a British structure” – blending Shakespeare with Tagore, algebra with Indian history, and Cambridge scripts with local festivals. Students remember reciting Wordsworth in class and performing plays on India’s Independence Day, even as their exam results came stamped from England.

Nationally, the syllabus evolved with the inclusion of mandatory Indian languages in 1960, the three-language formula, and later innovations such as internal assessments (1999), Environmental Education (2005), and project-based learning. CISCE aligned its syllabus with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in 1975, marking a complete transition to a national board while maintaining international standards.

Welham notes that independence in spirit had always been part of its DNA – from accessible fees and a focus on girls’ education to instilling civic duty.

Alumni recall knitting socks and sweaters for soldiers during the 1962 and 1965 wars, sealing sweet boxes for troops, and fundraising for cyclone victims.

“Whether exams were set in Cambridge or Delhi, our identity and purpose were always rooted in India,” the school says.

Frank Anthony unveiling the foundation stone at CISCE’s Noida Office (CISCE/ special arrangement)

Words from CISCE

Today, CISCE is aligning its curriculum with the National Education Policy 2020, focusing on competency-based learning, flexible subject choices, multilingualism, and vocational education. It is also integrating Indian knowledge systems into its syllabi.

“These efforts,” the council says, “are a continuation of our historical commitment to evolution – providing education that is globally competent, academically rigorous and culturally relevant.”

CISCE sees its journey from Cambridge oversight to Indian control as a “formative chapter” in its history – one that preserved academic excellence while achieving autonomy, and continues to shape its commitment to globally competent yet culturally grounded education.

Frank Anthony reviewing the construction of the CISCE Office (CISCE/ special arrangement)

A legacy that lives on

As India honours Maulana Azad’s vision on National Education Day, the CISCE’s story stands as a reminder that the struggle for educational independence did not end with political freedom in 1947. It continued through decades of reform, institution-building, and intellectual self-determination. The 1975 shift from Cambridge to Indian-set examinations was not just an administrative change – it was the realisation of Azad’s dream: an education system that was by Indians, for Indians, and of India, yet open to the world.