India - Participation in Education, July 1995 - July 1996, NSS 52nd Round

It refers to the different stages of educational attainment.
The levels are (i) not literate, (ii) literate without formal schooling, (iii) below primary, (iv) primary, (v) middle, (vi) secondary, (vii) higher secondary, (viii) diploma/ certificate, (ix) graduate, and, (x) postgraduate and above. It may be noted that if a person has successfully passed the final year of a given level, then and only then will he/she be considered to have attained that level of education. For example, the level attained by a person studying in Class IX will be middle but the level at which he/she is currently studying is secondary.

Education level refers to the highest level successfully completed. This means that if that if a person has say, failed in his B. A. examination, then his level will be treated only as 'higher secondary'. The codes to be given for various levels are as follows :

not literate -01
literate :
without formal schooling -02
below primary -03
primary -04
middle -05
secondary -06
higher secondary -07
diploma /certificate course -08
graduate -09
post graduate and above -10

For most of the formal education courses, with which this schedule is concerned, coding in the above fashion will not create any difficulties. However when a person has undertaken a course which is not in the formal schooling/ university stream coding has to be done with some care. When such a course is after higher secondary and the course is above higher secondary in standard, then code 8 may be given if they fall below the graduate level. In other cases the level of the course has to be identified as one falling in to any one of the above categories. For school education upto class XI it is known that different patterns exist in different stages. In this survey, for the purpose of identifying and recording the levels, the pattern followed in the respective stages are to be considered as mentioned below :


Educational pattern in States/Union Territories
Sl. no. State/ut primary stage upper primary stage(middle) secondary stage Hr. Sec. stage Hr. Sec. attached to Degree college
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
1. Andhra Pradesh I-V VI-VII VIII-X XI-XII
2. Arunachal Pradesh I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
3. Assam I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII YES
4. Bihar I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
5. Goa I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII YES
6. Gujarat * I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII
7. Haryana I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
8. Himachal Pradesh I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
9. Jummu & Kashmir I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
10. Karnataka I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII YES
11. Kerala I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII YES
12. Madhya Peadesh I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
13. Maharashtra I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII YES
14. Manipur I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
15. Meghalaya I-IV V-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
16. Mizoram I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII YES
17. Nagaland I-IV V-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
18. Orissa I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
19. Punjab I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
20. Rajasthan I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
21. Sikkim I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
22. Tamil Nadu I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
23. Tripura I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
24. Uttar Pradesh I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
25. West Bengal** I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII YES
26. A & N Islands I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
27. Chandigarh I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
28. D & N Haveli I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII
29. Daman & Diu I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII
30. Delhi I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
31. Lakshadweep I-IV V-VII VIII-X XI-XII
32. Pondicherry I-V VI-VIII IX-X XI-XII
* (Composite primary stage consisting of classes I-VII)
** (More than 90% primary schools have classes I-IV)