Secondary education in India is in 2 parts, lower secondary and higher secondary school. There is also 2 stream in secondary education, namely the general and the vocational or technical stream. The initial secondary education encompasses Grades 9 and 10, which the students attend after successfully finishing the elementary stage.
This is, however, not compulsory. Education at this stage continues to be general with little or no specialization and usually includes the same subjects as in upper-elementary grades. Students will sit for year-end examinations in grades 9 and 10 which are conducted by the state or federal boards of education.
Students who succeed in the final examinations are awarded certificates that vary depending on the examination boards. These include the All India Senior Secondary School Certificate and the Delhi Senior School Certificate issued by CBSE, the Indian School Certificate issued by CISCO, and the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) issued by state boards.
Pre-primary education
- Ages : 3-6 years
- Duration: 3 years
- Primary Languages: Hindi, English, other local languages
- Terms : 2 semesters
- Admission Term: throughout the year
Upper or higher secondary education in India lasts two years, from grade 11 to grade 12. Education here is more specialized and divided into streams. There are also two different tracks, namely vocational or technical and general academic stream. General academic education is divided into humanities, commerce, and science streams.
Admission into higher secondary education is competitive and usually dependent on the average score in the final grade 10 board examinations. the CBSE curriculum includes compulsory subjects such as 2 languages (one has to be English or Hindi), general (foundation) studies, work experience, and physical education.
Students also have to take 3 elective subjects from the chosen stream. The humanities stream offers subjects such as political science, history, geography, economics, psychology, sociology, or languages. the commerce stream offers subjects such as accounting, business studies, management, or computer applications, and the science stream covers subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and computer science.
