Education after primary stage and prior to the university level is regarded as secondary education. The present system of education which originated in pre-independence era has been a conservative one.
It has divided secondary education into many parts, which have been known as vernacular, middle, matriculation, entrance, high school, intermediate, etc. A relative study of the educational systems current in other advanced countries reveals that broadly speaking there are only three divisions of education namely the primary, secondary and higher education.
The scope of each of these divisions differs in foreign countries. Generally, the primary stage lasts upto class VIII and higher education (university education) starts from class XII or XIII. In this way the three or four years of education between classes IX and XII is called secondary education.
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During the foreign rule in India, enough importance was not attached to education and the government classified education from classes one to five as primary and from 13th class and above as higher education. The classes between the two came to be known as secondary education. With some changes the secondary stage was further sub-divided.
Accordingly, the first three years’ programme (from classes VI to VIII) was known as junior secondary, the next two years as higher secondary and the last two years as intermediate education.
According to the latest step the intermediate education has been included in the secondary education. But this step has not been given a final shape because a large number of students leave studies after high school and many schools have been recognised upto high school because of the lack of students. Now class XII has been included within university education.
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Thus the duration of secondary education has been reduced to three years duration in many states. But in U.P. Class XII still exists under the secondary education group, although here (in U.P) also three year course for Bachelor’s degree has been accepted and implemented.