ICSE Class 10 Syllabus 2028 Computer Applications

ICSE
INDIAN CERTIFICATE OF
SECONDARY EDUCATION
EXAMINATION
YEAR 2028

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
(86)

Developed by:
Research, Development and Curriculum Division (RDCD)
CISCE

January 2026
____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE)

MISSION STATEMENT

The Council for the Indian School Certificate
Examinations is committed to serving the nation's
children, through high quality educational
endeavours, empowering them to contribute towards
a humane, just and pluralistic society, promoting
introspective living, by creating exciting learning
opportunities, with a commitment to excellence.

ETHOS OF CISCE

Trust and fair play.
Minimum monitoring.
Allowing schools to evolve their own niche.
Catering to the needs of the children.
Giving freedom to experiment with new ideas
and practices.
Diversity and plurality - the basic strength for
evolution of ideas.
Schools to motivate pupils towards the
cultivation of:
Excellence - The Indian and Global
experience.
Values - Spiritual and cultural - to be the bedrock
of the educational experience.
Schools to have an 'Indian Ethos', strong roots in
the national psyche and be sensitive to national
aspirations.

CLASS X
There will be one written paper of two hours duration carrying 100 marks and Internal Assessment of 100
marks.

THEORY – 100 Marks
1. Revision of Class IX Syllabus
(i) Introduction to Object Oriented Programming concepts, (ii) Elementary Concept of Objects and
Classes, (iii) Values and Data types, (iv) Operators in Java, (v) Data processing in Java, (vi) Mathematical
Library Methods, (vii) Conditional statements in Java, (viii) Looping / Iterative statements in Java, (ix)
Nested for loops.

2. Library classes
Introduction to wrapper classes, methods of wrapper class and their usage with respect to numeric and
character data types. Auto boxing and Unboxing in wrapper classes.
Class as a composite type, distinction between primitive data type and composite data type or class types.
Class may be considered as a new data type created by the user, that has its own functionality. The
distinction between primitive and composite types should be discussed through examples. Show how
classes allow user defined types in programs. All primitive types have corresponding class wrappers.
Introduce Auto boxing and unboxing with their definition and simple examples.
The following methods are to be covered:
int parseInt(String ), longParseLong(String ),
float parseFloat(String ),
double parseDouble(String ), boolean isDigit(char ),
boolean isLetter(char ),
boolean isLetterOrDigit(char ),
boolean isLowerCase(char ), boolean isUpperCase(char ), boolean isWhitespace(char ),
char toLowerCase (char )
char toUpperCase(char )

3. Arrays
Definition of an array, types of arrays, declaration, initialization and accepting data of single dimensional
arrays, accessing the elements of single dimensional arrays.
Arrays and their uses, programs related to accessing the elements of the array [ all data types ], sorting
techniques - selection sort and bubble sort; Search techniques – linear search and binary search, Array
as a composite type, length statement to find the size of the array (sorting and searching techniques using
single dimensional array only).

4. String handling
String class, methods of String class, implementation of String class methods, String array
The following String class methods are to be covered:
String trim ()
String toLowerCase() String toUpperCase()

int length( )
char charAt (int )
int indexOf(char )

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int lastIndexOf(char )
String concat(String )
boolean equals (String )
boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String )
int compareTo(String )
int compareToIgnoreCase(String )
String replace (char oldChar,char newChar)
String substring (int beginIndex)
String substring (int beginIndex, int endIndex)
boolean startsWith(String )
boolean endsWith(String )
String valueOf(all types)
Programs based on the above methods, extracting and modifying characters of a string, alphabetical order
of the strings in an array [Bubble and Selection sort techniques], searching for a string using linear search
technique.

5. Class as the Basis of all Computation
Objects and Classes
Objects encapsulate state and behavior – numerous examples; member variables; attributes or features.
Variables define state; member methods; Operations/methods/messages/ methods define behavior.
Classes as abstractions for sets of objects; class as an object factory; primitive data types, composite data
types. Variable declarations for both types; difference between the two types. Objects as instances of a
class.
Consider real life examples for explaining the concept of class and object.

6. Constructors
Definition of Constructor, characteristics, types of constructors, use of constructors, constructor
overloading.
Default constructor, parameterized constructor, constructor overloading. Difference between constructor
and method.

7. Custom Methods
Need of methods, syntax of methods, forms of methods, method definition, method calling, method
overloading, declaration of methods,
Ways to define a method, ways to invoke the methods – call by value [with programs] and call by reference
[only definition with an example], Object creation - invoking the methods with respect to use of multiple
methods with different names to implement modular programming, using data members and member
methods, Actual parameters and formal parameters, Declaration of methods - static and non-static,
method prototype / signature, - Pure and impure methods, - pass by value [with programs] ] and pass by
reference [only definition with an example],Returning values from the methods, use of multiple
methods and more than one method with the same name (polymorphism - method overloading).

8. Disruptive technologies
Cyber hygiene, Cyber laws, Artificial intelligence, block chain technology, Internet of things, Robotics,
5G technology, Cloud computing.
Definition, types and uses of the above.
* Project on this topic should be done.

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INTERNAL ASSESSMENT - 100 Marks
This segment of the syllabus is totally practical oriented. The accent is on acquiring basic programming skills
quickly and efficiently.
Programming Assignments (Class X)
The students should complete a minimum of 15 laboratory assignments during the whole year to
reinforce the concepts studied in class along with a written project on Disruptive Technologies.
Suggested list of Assignments:
The laboratory assignments will form the bulk of the course. Good assignments should have problems which
require design, implementation and testing. They should also embody one or more concepts that have been
discussed in the theory class. A significant proportion of the time has to be spent in the laboratory. Computing
can only be learnt by doing.
The teacher-in-charge should maintain a record of all the assignments done by the student throughout the year
and give it due credit at the time of cumulative evaluation at the end of the year.
Some sample problems are given below as examples. The problems are of varying levels of difficulty:
(i) Custom methods
(a) Programs depicting the concept of pure, impure, static, non- static methods, void and return.
(b) Programs based on overloaded methods including iterative, selection, character and strings
(c) Programs involving data members, member methods invoking the methods with respect to the object
created.
(d) Slab based programs with object creation.
(ii) Constructors
(a) Programs based on different types of constructors mentioned in the scope of the syllabus.
(b) Outputs based on constructor overloading
(iii) Library classes
(a) Programs based on conversion of String to numeric and vice versa
(b) Converting character to lower case or uppercase
(c) Outputs based on all the methods mentioned in the scope of the syllabus.
(d) Programs to check whether a given character is an uppercase/ lowercase / digit etc.
(iv) Arrays
(a) accessing the elements of an array.
(b) sort techniques mentioned in the scope of the syllabus for arrays of all data types.
(c) Search techniques mentioned in the scope of the syllabus for arrays of all data types.
(d) Count the number of even / odd numbers, sum of even / odd numbers
(e) Display the array in reverse order, Square root of each element,
(f) Count number of upper case letters and lower case letters in a character array, sum of ASCII code of
each character in an array
(v) String handling
(a) Outputs based on all the string methods mentioned in the scope of the syllabus.
(b) Programs based on extracting the characters from a given string and manipulating the same.

Important: This list is indicative only. Teachers and students should use their imagination to create innovative
and original assignments

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EVALUATION
The teacher-in-charge shall evaluate all the assignments done by the student throughout the year [both written
and practical work]. He/she shall ensure that most of the components of the syllabus have been used
appropriately in the assignments. Assignments should be with appropriate list of variables and comment
statements. The student has to mention the output of the programs.
Proposed Guidelines for Marking
The teacher should use the criteria below to judge the internal work done. Basically, four criteria are being
suggested: class design, coding and documentation, variable description and execution or output. The actual
grading will be done by the teacher based on his/her judgment. However, one possible way: divide the outcome
for each criterion into one of 4 groups: excellent, good, fair/acceptable, poor/unacceptable, then use numeric
values for each grade and add to get the total.
Class design:
Has a suitable class (or classes) been used?
Are all attributes with the right kinds of types present? Is encapsulation properly done?
Is the interface properly designed?

Coding and documentation:
Is the coding done properly? (Choice of names, no unconditional jumps, proper organization of conditions,
proper choice of loops, error handling, code layout) Is the documentation complete and readable? (Class
documentation, variable documentation, method documentation, constraints, and known bugs - if any).
Variable description:
Format for variable description:
Name of the Variable Data Type Purpose/description

Execution or Output:

Does the program run on all sample input correctly?
Evaluation of practical work will be done as follows:
Subject Teacher (Internal Examiner):
Assignments 40 marks
Written project 10 marks
Total 50 marks
External Examiner:
Assignments 40 marks
Written project 10 marks
Total 50 marks

Evaluation of Written Project will be done as follows:
Introduction 2 marks
Content 4 marks
Presentation 2 marks
Conclusion/Summary 2 marks
Total 10 marks

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Evaluation of Assignments will be done as follows:

Criteria Class design Variable description Coding and Documentation Execution OR
(Total- 40 marks) (10 marks) (10 marks) (10 marks) Output
(10 marks)
Excellent 10 10 10 10

Good 8 8 8 6

Fair 6 6 6 2

Poor 4 4 4 2

An External Examiner shall be nominated by the Head of the School and may be a teacher from the faculty, but
not teaching the subject in the relevant section/class. For example, a Computer Teacher of class IX and above
may be deputed to be the External Examiner for class X.
The total marks obtained out of 100 (80 marks assignment + 20 marks written project) are to be sent to CISCE
by the Head of the school.
The Head of the school will be responsible for the online entry of marks on CISCE’s CAREERS portal by the
due date.

EQUIPMENT
There should be enough computer systems to provide for a teaching schedule where at least three-fourth of a
time available is used for programming and assignments/practical work. The course shall require at least 4
periods of about 40 minutes duration per week. In one week, out of 4 periods the time should be divided as
follows:
2 periods – Lecture cum demonstration by the Instructor.
2 periods – Assignments/Practical work.
The hardware and software platforms should be such that students can comfortably develop and run programs
on those machines.
Since hardware and software evolve and change very rapidly the schools shall need to upgrade them as
required. Following are the minimal specifications as of now.
RECOMMENDED FACILITIES:
• A lecture cum demonstration room with a MULTIMEDIA PROJECTOR/ an LCD and Overhead
Projector (OHP) attached to the computer.
• A white board with white board markers should be available.
• A fully equipped Computer Laboratory that allows one computer per student.
• The computers should have a minimum of 2 GB RAM and at least a P – V or Equivalent Processor.
• Good Quality printers.
• A scanner, a web cam/a digital camera (Should be provided if possible).
SOFTWARE FOR CLASSES IX & X
Any suitable Operating System can be used.
For teaching fundamental concepts of computing using object oriented approach, Blue J environment ( 5.4.2
or higher version) compatible with JDK (11 or higher version) as the base or any other editor or IDE,
compatible with JDK (11 or higher version) as the base may be used. Ensure that the latest versions of software
are used.

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