SECONDARY EDUCATION

The following statistics give an overview of the present status of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in the country as on 30/9/2004 
(i) No. of secondary Schools and students is 1,01,777 and 2.43 crore respectively. 
(ii) No. of Hr. Secondary schools and students is 50,272 and 1.27 crore respectively. 
(iii) Girls’ enrolment increased from two lakh to 101 lakh. 
(iv) Drop-out rate at primary level slipped down from 65 per cent in 1960-61 to 39 per cent in 1997-98 and at middle level, it reduced from 78 per cent to 54 per cent. At secondary level the rate of drop-out was 69 per cent in 1997- 98. 
(v) Enrolment increased from 15 lakh to 272 lakh. 
(vi) The number of teachers increased from 12.7 lakh to 15.42 lakh. 
(vii) The teacher-pupil ratio increased from 1:21 to 1:32.

NATIONAL OPEN SCHOOL
The National Open School (NOS) was established in November 1989, as an autonomous organisation in pursuance of the National Policy on Education, 1986 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India to provide education to school drop outs and those who cannot attend the regular classes. The Open School of the Central Board of Secondary Education established in July 1979 was subsumed in the NOS.
NOS has a student strength of more than 13 lakh students from all parts of the country. It is one of the largest Open schools in the world. At present, there are more than 3300 study centres of NOS which include academic, vocational and special accredited institutions. Of these 26 centres are in UAE and Nepal.
Acknowledging the fact that the young entrepreneurs will be wealth of the nation, the learner friendly Vocational Education programmes of NIOS provides excellent prospects for the learners, it offers about 80 vocational education courses in the areas Agriculture, Business and Commerce, Engineering and Technology, Health and Paramedical, Home Science and Hospitality Management, Teacher Training, Computer and IT related sectors.

NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA
The National Policy on Education - 1986 envisaged establishment of pace-setting schools in various parts of the country. Accordingly, a scheme was formulated to set up residential schools, on an average one in each district. The scheme started with two experimental schools in 1985-86 and has now grown to 576 schools covering as many districts in 34 States/UTs with over 205820 students on rolls as on 31 March 2009 . The Navodaya Vidyalayas are fully residential and coeducational institutions covering classes VI to XII. These Vidayalaya envisaged a new style of growth with identification and development of talented, bright and gifted children predominantly from rural areas who may otherwise be denied good educational opportunities.

KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA
The Government of India approved the scheme of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in 1962 on the recommendations of the Second Pay Commission. Initially, 20 regimental schools in different States were taken over as Central Schools. In 1965, an Autonomous Body called Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan was established with the primary objective of setting up and monitoring Kendriya Vidyalayas to cater to the educational needs of the children of the transferable Central Government Employees including Defence Personnel by providing common programme of education. At present there are 981 Kendriya Vidyalayas out of which one each is in Kathmandu, Tehran and Moscow. All Kendriya Vidyalayas follow a uniform syllabus.

NCERT
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) which was set up in 1981 functions as an academic advisor to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The main objectives of the NCERT are to assist and advise the Ministry in implementing policies and major programmes in the field of school education. NCERT has five regional institutes and field offices in major States all over the country. The Council conducts, aids, promotes and coordinates research in school education and teacher education; organises pre-service and in-service training of teachers; extension services for institutions; develops and experiments with improved educational techniques practices and innovations; collects, compiles, processes and disseminates educational information; assists the State/UT in developing and implementing programmes for qualitative improvement of school education; collaborates with international organisations; serves as the academic secretariat of the National Development Group (NDG) for the Asia and the Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID), UNESCO, Bangkok; and develops, prints and distributes textbooks.