A uniform board and school curriculum across India would be unable to take local cultures and contexts into account, the Central Board of Secondary Education told the Delhi High Court, reported PTI on Saturday.

The CBSE was responding to a petition filed by advocate and Bharatiya Janata Party member AK Upadhyay that sought a common education board across the country.

The plea had contended that the CBSE, Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and state boards having different syllabi was arbitrary and contrary to the Constitution. Upadhyay noted that entrance examinations have a common syllabus and argued that differences in the curricula of school education boards impede equal opportunity for students.

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However, the CBSE told the High Court that having multiple curricula, in addition to a core common element, was desirable. “A child can better relate to a curriculum that is more closely related to his/ her life outside the school,” its affidavit read.

The CBSE told the court that though the National Council for Education Research and Training is notified as the academic authority to frame a national curriculum under the Right to Education Act, the states have also notified state agencies for preparing the curriculum. The board said that education was a subject in the concurrent list.

It also said that a majority of schools are under the jurisdiction of the state governments and hence, they have the authority to frame the syllabus and conduct examinations, the Deccan Herald reported.

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State councils of educational research and training as well as state education boards have the option of either adopting or modifying NCERT’s model syllabi and textbooks, or forming their own material based on the National Curriculum Framework, the CBSE said.

The board urged the court to dismiss the petition, contending that it lacked merit. The case is slated to be heard on October 10.