Education in Kerala represents a success story that many nations might wish to emulate.

Kerala, located in the southern tip of , is an agrarian state with a per capita income of only $265. Yet its literacy rate of 91 percent puts it closer to the than to any other Indian state. (The national literacy rate in is 65 percent.)

Kerala was the first state in to declare total literacy in one town in 1989, and subsequently, total literacy in a whole region in 1990. 's National Literacy Mission declared total literacy in the whole state of Kerala on April 18, 1991.

"Literacy is a prerequisite for social development," says P.K. Ravindran, a former president of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, a group that gave a push to the state's literacy movement in the 1980s. "Without literacy you cannot go forward."

In Kerala, commitment to education pervades society. About 37 percent of the state's annual budget goes to education. The state supports 12,271 schools. There's an elementary school within two miles of every settlement.

Even when times are tough, education is the last item the Kerala government will cut. "Traditionally, we've always been funding education. The social demand is there. If we make budget cuts now, there'll be agitation from the people," says A. Ajith Kumar, director of public instruction in Trivandrum , the capital of Kerala.  You can find more information about Kerala Education on www.KeralaEducation.com

Pre-Primary Education

Pre-primary education lays the foundations of a child’s knowledge, skills and rules of behavior that create prerequisites for successful progress in daily life and school.

Early childhood education provides a stimulating play environment for Physical, Intellectual, Language, Social and emotional development of the child. It prepares children for the primary and it focuses on the holistic development of the child. 

Pre-primary education lays the foundation for the development of reading, writing and number work. It is a program which encourages interaction with the environment, active participation in-group activities and enhances creativity and problem solving in children. It stresses on providing first-hand experiences to children in ways that would ensure, development of skills related to the process of learning. It also stresses on prior planning and scheduling but it at the same time flexible to children’s needs. Pre-primary education indirectly promotes self control and thereby inner discipline in children.

Before 1980, pre-primary education, which caters for children between one and six years of age, was exclusively the responsibility of local communities and non-governmental organizations such as churches, voluntary organizations, local authorities and individual investors.

The importance of early childhood education is now a well recognized fact, that children need enriched environment, intellectual stimulation and plenty of opportunity for socialization of the same age group from a very early agree are now known to a large section of people.

Kerala has achieved near-equality in school enrolment with regard to gender. Girl students outnumber boys the high school stage. Girl students in schools constituted 49.1% of all students.

 
DPEP

A centrally sponsored scheme, DPEP is a major multi - faceted program seeking to overhand and reconstruct primary education as a whole in selected educationally backward districts. Its emphasis is on decentralized planning and management as well as community participation. The program was introduced in the districts of Malappuram, Wayanad and Kasargod in December 1994. 

DPEP is decentralizing the program by passing on its control, supervision and support functions to the States and the States in turn are passing them on the districts. To quote a DPEP report " had a great ancient tradition of the community owning the village schools". To revive this there is a plan to integrate community level structures with the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments provide for State specific legislation to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions to take care of several functions including primary education.

Some DPEP achievements in this area are: creation of Village Education Committees (VECs), initiation of "Mustiviksha" in Orissa where children along with teachers go from door to door with slogans and songs and collect donations for the school, passing of an Act in Andhra Pradesh for improved community participation etc. The final goal is to mobilize and motivate the community and switch the managerial responsibility or primary education to them.

 
Vocational Higher Secondary Education 

Vocational education is a way of making secondary education more accessible to students from backward socio-economic backgrounds. It was formally introduced in Kerala at the higher secondary level (+2 stage) in 1983-84.

There are 322 VHS School (231 Govt. & 91 Private) handling 814 schools of Vocational courses in 45 subjects. Subjects are related to agriculture (livestock management and fisheries), health and paramedical service, business and commerce, home science and humanities and service sectors in engineering and technology. Clothing and embroidery, cosmetology and management of beauty parlors, crèche-pre-school management are courses exclusively for girls.

CBSE Education

The Central Board of Secondary Education is a board of school education followed all over . It conducts two board examinations: the All India Secondary School Examination for Class 10 and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination for Class 12, which is a school-leaving examination. It also prescribes the syllabi for these examinations, whose scores are used by many colleges to determine admission. Many private schools through the country affiliate themselves with the CBSE. The only education mediums for CBSE are English and Hindi. Alternatives to CBSE include the ICSE and the Education Board of the local state.

 
CBSE All India Senior School Certificate Examination for Class 12 is recognized internationally for direct admission to University undergraduate courses. CBSE also conducts the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) which is a common entrance examination on an all basis for admission to engineering and architecture/planning programs in the country. Similarly Pre-medical and Pre-dental Tests (PMT/PDT) are conducted for medical and dental colleges after the 10+2 exams.

 
ICSE Education

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations for class 10, i.e., year 10. It has been designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 1986 (), through the medium of English.

The examination allows secure suitable representation of Governments responsible for schools (which are affiliated to it) in their States/Territories. Most schools affiliate to either the ICSE or the CBSE board examinations as the results of these exams are considered a benchmark all over the country. Private candidates are not permitted to appear for this examination. In earlier years there used to be the ISC exams which used to be up to grade 11.