This year, a new scheme of choice of subjects was introduced by La Martiniere College for students seeking admission to the ISC classes. This new system, which introduced ‘grouping’ and ‘streaming’ of subjects, is vastly different from the system used by La Martiniere in previous years, where no such streaming existed.

We, the students of the ICSE batch of 2026, do understand that this change was introduced by the school to ensure the welfare of the students and to ensure that "the correct selection of subjects (was made) by candidates to meet the university or professional course requirements". However, we respectfully submit that the manner in which the subjects have been grouped does not align with our academic interests, future goals, and aspirations.

Under the new system, subjects have been divided into Groups ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’, which has inadvertently restricted students from opting for certain subject combinations that they want to study. This limitation poses a significant challenge for those seeking a more flexible and interdisciplinary academic approach.

The National Education Policy (2020) and the National Curriculum Framework (2023) give a clear mandate to ‘move away from the current practice of streaming into Science, Arts/Humanities, and Commerce’ and state that ‘students will be given increased flexibility and choice of subjects to study, particularly in secondary school’.

Keeping this in mind, we would like to suggest a what we think would be a more suitable approach to the current subject selection system. Whilst we are agreeable with the new system introduced for the compulsory subjects (Categories ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’), we believe that the elective groups ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ should be merged into one single group, out of which three subjects should be available to be opted for.

We believe that such a system would better accommodate diverse academic interests and career aspirations, while also aligning with the broader educational reforms envisioned at the national level.

We sincerely request the Principal to kindly consider this matter and take appropriate action, for which we shall be grateful.