Population control
- ICSE Class 10, Unit 5 Population
Population control means the steps a family or country takes to slow population growth, mainly by planning how many children to have and when.
It has two sides. Population education spreads awareness of why small families help, through posters, films and talks. Family planning methods prevent a pregnancy that is not wanted. The syllabus names these methods:
- Tubectomy: a small operation on a woman. Her oviducts, the tubes that carry eggs, are cut and tied. The egg cannot meet a sperm.
- Vasectomy: a small operation on a man. His sperm ducts are cut and tied, so sperms cannot leave.
- Condoms: a thin cover that stops sperms reaching the egg.
- Contraceptive pills: taken by a woman; they stop an egg from being released.
- Intrauterine devices (IUDs): a small device a doctor places in the uterus to prevent pregnancy.
A small example
A couple with two children decide they want no more. They could choose a surgical method, which is meant to be permanent. Or they could choose a method that can be stopped later, like pills or an IUD.
Where marks go
The two surgical names are close. The 2024 ICSE Biology paper asked for the surgical method in females, for 1 mark. The answer is tubectomy. CISCE's 2024 Biology report records "vasectomy" given instead. It also records the misspelling "Tubecotomy".
A memory aid: tubectomy works on the tubes, and the oviducts are the woman's tubes. Vasectomy works on the vas deferens, the man's sperm duct. Spell each one out a few times. See why marks slip away on answers you know.
Sources
Facts last checked against these sources on 30 September 2026.
About the author
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An IIT alumna (M.Sc., M.Phil.) with over 25 years in teaching, child psychology and learning assessment. As Academic Lead at EduBrahma, she leads the method TRUtesting uses to find where and why a child loses marks.
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