SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA

India is divided into 28 states and eight so-called "Union Territories." The states have their own elected governments, while the Union Territories are ruled directly by the Government of India, with the President of India appointing an administrator for each Union Territory. As per the constitution of India, school education was originally a state subject - that is, the states had complete authority to decide policies and implement them. The Government of India's (GoI) role was limited to coordination and deciding on higher education standards. This was changed with a constitutional amendment in 1976 so that education now comes in the so-called concurrent list. That is, school education policies and programs are suggested at the national level by the GoI though the state governments have a lot of freedom in implementing programs. Policies are announced at the national level periodically. The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), set up in 1935, continues to lead the evolution and monitoring of educational policies and programs. The school system in India has four levels: lower primary (ages 6 to 10), upper primary (11 and 12), high (13 to 15), and higher secondary (17 and 18). The lower primary school divide into five "standards," upper primary school into two, high school into three, and higher secondary into two. Students have to learn a standard curriculum largely (except for regional changes in their mother tongue) till the end of high school. There is some amount of specialization possible at the higher secondary level. Students throughout the country must learn three languages (English, Hindi, and their mother tongue) except in regions where Hindi is the mother tongue and in some streams, as discussed below.