 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(April 2015) |
The Senior Cambridge examinations were General Certificate of Education examinations held in India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Singapore. They were preceded by the Junior Cambridge and Preliminary Cambridge examinations.
The first school in Delhi to offer the Senior Cambridge examination was the Cambridge School at Daryaganj. After 1972, the Senior Cambridge examinations were largely superseded by the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examinations conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), an autonomous body established in 1958.
During the Japanese occupation of Malaysia in World War II, pupils who sat their Senior Cambridge examinations at some schools in 1941 had to wait until 1946 to learn their results. It was replaced with the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia during the late 1970s.
At its independence from British India in 1947, Pakistan inherited a number of schools that offered Senior Cambridge examinations. But one of the first schools to offer Senior Cambridge was Cathedral School Hall Road Lahore. Since then, the number of schools with a Senior Cambridge curriculum expanded greatly, and Cambridge schools are prominent among the premier educational institutions of Pakistan.
Prior to the introduction of the O Levels examinations by UCLES, students sat for the Senior Cambridge examinations at the end of their four-year secondary school studies. This is equivalent to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (or GCSE) in England. The Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations were replaced by A Levels (roughly equivalent to the present British "sixth form") in 1973.
At the Victoria Institution in 1933, the following list of school textbooks was issued to pupils preparing to study for the Senior Cambridge examinations:
In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-level or equivalent examinations like the International Baccalaureate or Cambridge Pre-U. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the term Key Stage 5 has the same meaning. It only refers to academic education and not to vocational education.
The General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a subject-specific family of academic qualifications used in awarding bodies in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Crown dependencies and a few Commonwealth countries. For some time, the Scottish education system has been different from those in the other countries of the United Kingdom.
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Education in Malaysia is overseen by the Ministry of Education. Although education is the responsibility of the Federal Government, each state and federal territory has an Education Department to co-ordinate educational matters in its territory. The main legislation governing education is the Education Act 1996.
An examination board is an organization that sets examinations, is responsible for marking them, and distributes the results. Some are run by governmental entities; some are run as not-for-profit organizations.
A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 study typically for advanced post-school level qualifications such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council level 3 (BTEC), and the International Baccalaureate Diploma, or school-level qualifications such as General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations and BTEC level 2 qualifications. In many countries this type of educational institute is known as a junior college. The municipal government of the city of Paris uses the phrase 'sixth form college' as the English name for a lycée.
Eleventh grade is the eleventh year of formal or compulsory education. It is typically the third year of high school. Students in eleventh grade are usually 16–17 years of age.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based secondary qualification similar to the GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainment. It was developed by Cambridge Assessment International Education. The examination boards Edexcel, Learning Resource Network (LRN), and Oxford AQA also offer their own versions of International GCSEs. Students normally begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 10 and take the test at the end of Year 11. However, in some international schools, students can begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 9 and take the test at the end of Year 10.
Victoria School (VS) is a government autonomous boys' secondary school in Siglap, Singapore. The school has a hostel. Established in 1876, it is Singapore's second oldest state secondary school.
The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was a subject-specific qualification family awarded in both academic and vocational fields in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. CSE examinations were held in the years 1965 to 1987. This qualification should not be confused with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education which is a school-leaving qualification in India. Also, in some African and former British colonial countries there is a qualification named the Certificate of Secondary Education based on the original and former British variant. Also, the CSE should not be confused with the African qualification CSEE.
Educational stages are subdivisions of formal learning, typically covering early childhood education, primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognizes nine levels of education in its International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) system. UNESCO's International Bureau of Education maintains a database of country-specific education systems and their stages. Some countries divide levels of study into grades or forms for school children in the same year.
Education in the Indian subcontinent began with teaching of traditional elements such as Indian religions, Indian mathematics, Indian logic at early Hindu and Buddhist centres of learning such as ancient Takshashila and Nalanda. Islamic education became ingrained with the establishment of Islamic empires in the Indian subcontinent in the Middle Ages while the coming of the Europeans later brought western education to colonial India.
The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) or Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) or Higher Secondary Education Certificate (HSE) is a secondary education qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It is equivalent to the final year of high school in the United States and GCSE and/or A level in the United Kingdom.
The A-level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational authorities of British Crown dependencies to students completing secondary or pre-university education. They were introduced in England and Wales in 1951 to replace the Higher School Certificate. The A-level permits students to have potential access to a chosen university they applied to with UCAS points. They could be accepted into it should they meet the requirements of the university.
The O-Level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It began in the United Kingdom and has been adopted, often with modifications, in several other countries.
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), formerly National Open School is a national level board of education in India, controlled and managed by the Government of India. It was established by the Ministry of Education of the Government of India in 1989.
The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level, also called the O-level or O level, was a subject-based academic qualification. Introduced in 1951 as a replacement for the 16+ School Certificate (SC), the O-level would act as a pathway to the new, more in-depth and academically rigorous A-level, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Later, the complementary and more vocational Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was added to broaden the subjects available and offer qualifications in non-academic subjects.