Elementary Education in the US

Education in the United States is given in public, private, and home schools. The state has made education compulsory for the age range starting between five and eight and ending between sixteen and eighteen. It depends on the particular state. The elementary school comprises the first five or six years of compulsory education, and secondary education includes students aged 12 to 18. This is further divided into three years of middle school and four years of high school.

The particular state in the US decides whether or not to offer kindergarten (K) year in Elementary education. For attendance, attendance is not compulsory. A child must be five years old to attend kindergarten. Usually, a child is enrolled when he turns six. Students generally attend Elementary school from the age of five or six until eleven (grades K to five) when they go to a middle or junior high school. In some parts, students attend elementary school until the age of 13 (up to grade 8) before attending a senior high school.

The curriculum of the elementary school varies with the organisation and educational aims of individual schools and local communities. A student’s achievement of specified skills decides his or her promotion from first grade to the next. Only under exceptional cases, a child may require to repeat a year. The focus is to introduce essential academic learning and socialisation skills to the children in the broad range of knowledge, skills and behavioural adjustment they need to succeed in life. Elementary Education provides instruction in the fundamental skills of reading, writing and maths, along with history and geography, crafts, music, science, art and physical education or gym. In around 25% of elementary schools, foreign languages, have been introduced. Elementary students are usually given regular homework, although some schools are moving away from this.

In India, primary education has two parts, Lower Primary (Class I-IV) and Upper Primary (Middle school, Class V-VIII). The Indian government on elementary education, to children aged 6 to 14 years old. Duration of primary education differs among various Indian states. 80% of all recognised schools at the elementary stage are government-run or supported.

Shahjadi Jemim Rahman