Educational Support Structures in Indian States: Key Institutions and Their Roles

India’s school education system doesn’t run on a single engine. Behind every classroom, textbook, and teacher training program is a network of state-level institutions working in tandem to keep the system functional, relevant, and inclusive. Three types of bodies sit at the heart of this structure: Boards of School Education, State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs), and vocational and non-formal education bodies. Each has a distinct mandate, yet all three are interdependent. Understanding what they do – and how they do it – is essential for anyone seeking to make sense of how education is actually governed and delivered across Indian states.

Boards of school education: the examining and accrediting backbone 🔗

Every state in India has its own Board of School Education, and these boards are far more than just examination-conducting agencies. They are the primary regulatory bodies for school-level education within their respective states, responsible for setting academic standards, designing syllabi, and certifying schools that meet prescribed norms.

Curriculum design and textbook development 🔗

Education boards in India serve as regulatory authorities responsible for developing and implementing standardised curriculum frameworks that are contextually relevant to their states. The syllabi, textbooks, and examination systems designed by each state board are aligned with the linguistic, cultural, and social settings of the state. In order to enhance cultural relevance and inclusiveness, these boards typically incorporate local history and regional languages in their curriculum – a feature that nationally centralised boards like CBSE cannot always offer.

The Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) provides an overarching coordination framework, helping state boards align their syllabi and course materials with the National Curriculum Framework 2005 prepared by NCERT. This ensures that while curricula retain regional character, they also maintain national educational standards.

Conducting examinations and issuing certificates 🔗

The examination function is perhaps what state boards are best known for. State boards conduct board examinations for Classes 10 and 12, and each state follows its own syllabus and grading system. These examinations are critical not just as academic milestones, but as formal credentials that determine access to higher education and, in many cases, state government employment.

The certificates issued by state boards are recognised by universities and employers across the country. Crucially, recognised boards issue valid certificates accepted by universities and employment agencies, while also maintaining academic integrity and preventing educational fraud. With a proliferation of unrecognised boards in recent years, COBSE’s verification role has become increasingly significant for parents and students alike.

School affiliation and accreditation 🔗

State boards also regulate which schools are permitted to operate under their banner. Boards grant official recognition and affiliation to educational institutions while ensuring quality standards and educational excellence across member schools. Schools must meet infrastructure, staffing, and academic benchmarks before receiving affiliation – making the board a de facto quality assurance mechanism at the state level.

The main aim of most state boards is to ensure that education is affordable, accessible, and relevant to the surrounding communities, particularly in rural regions and across different socio-economic groups. This accessibility focus sets state boards apart from their national counterparts in terms of educational reach and social equity.

State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs): the academic engine 🔗

While boards manage examinations and accreditation, SCERTs handle something equally critical: the quality of what actually happens inside the classroom. Present in every state and union territory, SCERTs function as the academic and research wing of state education departments. Their work spans teacher training, curriculum development, policy research, and educational technology.

Teacher training: pre-service and in-service 🔗

SCERT’s main function is to bring about qualitative changes in the field of school education in general, and teacher education in particular. This happens through two principal channels. Pre-service training prepares new recruits before they enter classrooms, while in-service training continuously upgrades the skills of practising teachers.

SCERTs are mandated to design and conduct training programmes for the professional development of teachers and teacher educators across the state. In Delhi, for instance, SCERT has been working with District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) to conduct in-service education programmes and undertake research projects aimed at improving classroom outcomes. The nine DIETs under SCERT Delhi each operate at the district level, extending the council’s academic reach to individual communities.

SCERTs also serve as the nodal agency for teacher education certification. SCERT Delhi is recognised by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) for admission, curriculum construction, course conduct, guidance, examination, and certification of pre-service training programmes in the areas of pre-primary and elementary education.

Curriculum development and textbook preparation 🔗

A key deliverable of every SCERT is its curriculum and instructional material. SCERTs are engaged in the formulation of school curriculum, training of school teachers, development of textbooks and teacher handbooks, and research and other educational activities. These materials are developed in alignment with national frameworks but adapted to local languages and contexts – something particularly important in linguistically diverse states.

SCERTs are tasked with formulating relevant and age-appropriate syllabi and textbooks as per NCERT guidelines for elementary schools in all mediums of instruction of the state. In states like Kerala, SCERT is concerned with the academic aspects of school education including formulation of curriculum, preparation of textbooks, teachers’ handbooks and teacher training, and it advises the government on policy matters relating to school education.

Educational research and policy support 🔗

SCERTs are not just training bodies – they are research institutions. They are mandated to conduct and promote educational research and surveys for qualitative improvement of school education and teacher education, and to disseminate research findings to policymakers, administrators, and field functionaries.

This advisory function is significant. SCERT Delhi has been providing academic support to the Department of Education in the formulation of policies and planning procedures, while also developing curricular materials including textbooks, supplementary materials, teacher handbooks, manuals, and modules for audio and visual media. SCERTs, in effect, serve as the intellectual infrastructure of state education systems.

Vocational and non-formal education bodies: reaching beyond the mainstream 🔗

Not every learner in India follows a conventional school-to-college trajectory. Millions of children drop out of the formal system, millions of adults never completed schooling, and millions more need practical skills rather than academic degrees. This is the space that vocational and non-formal education bodies are designed to fill – and it is a space of enormous social consequence.

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) 🔗

The most prominent non-formal education institution at the national level – with a direct mandate to support state-level access – is the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). Established in 1989 as an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Education, NIOS is recognised as the largest open schooling system in the world, with a cumulative enrolment of over 4.13 million learners in the last five years.

NIOS offers vocational, life enrichment, and community-oriented courses alongside general academic courses at the secondary and senior secondary levels, and also provides foundational education through its Open Basic Education (OBE) programmes. Its study centres – over 7,400 across India and abroad – bring education to learners in remote areas, working professionals, school dropouts, and persons with disabilities. NIOS also actively supports individual states in establishing their own State Open Schools (SOSs), helping build local capacity for open and distance learning.

Industrial Training Institutes and skill development 🔗

At the state level, vocational education is largely delivered through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Industrial Training Institutions, first established in 1950, aim to prepare trainees for semi-skilled work or self-employment, and as of 2022, India had 14,953 ITIs with the capacity to enroll over 3 million trainees. These institutions are run by both government and private bodies and remain the most extensive formal vocational training infrastructure at the state level.

Complementing ITIs is the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a public-private partnership established in 2008 under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. NSDC participates in government skill-training schemes and supports central and state governments in implementing their skills development strategies, while also developing models to enhance and coordinate upskilling initiatives in the private sector. Through its network of Sector Skill Councils and training partners, NSDC helps standardise vocational qualifications across industries and states.

Regulatory framework: NCVET and the NSQF 🔗

Vocational education in India has historically suffered from fragmentation – multiple bodies, inconsistent norms, and qualifications that weren’t portable across states or sectors. This began to change with the establishment of the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) in December 2018. NCVET serves as a comprehensive regulatory body aimed at ensuring quality in the technical and vocational education and training sector, subsuming the responsibilities of previously separate agencies to create a unified quality assurance framework.

Underpinning all of this is the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF), approved in December 2013, which organises qualifications according to levels of knowledge, skills, and aptitude – defined in terms of learning outcomes regardless of whether they were acquired through formal, non-formal, or informal learning. This means a learner who trained informally on the job can have their skills formally recognised, which is a significant step toward equity in India’s education and labour market.

Adult education and alternative learning models 🔗

Beyond formal skill training, states also run adult literacy and continuing education programmes. Only 5% of Indian youth aged 20-24 have obtained vocational skills through a formal training system, and many students who drop out of the formal educational system remain unaware of alternative educational and employment opportunities. Non-governmental organisations, community-based programmes, and state-funded adult education centres continue to play a vital role in addressing this gap, often working in coordination with NIOS, SCERTs, and state education departments.

The National Skills Development Policy of 2009 gave a significant push to this ecosystem by creating new institutional infrastructure, committing government funding, and establishing Sector Skills Councils to involve industry directly in curriculum development and labour force growth. The policy recognised that academic and vocational pathways needed to be treated as equally legitimate – a principle that the National Education Policy 2020 has since reinforced with greater emphasis on integrating vocational education into mainstream schooling from Class 6 onwards.

How these structures work together 🔗

It is worth stepping back to see these three categories of institutions not as silos, but as a system. State Boards set the formal academic standards and certify schools. SCERTs build the human capacity – the teachers and educators – needed to deliver that education meaningfully. And vocational and non-formal bodies ensure that the system extends its reach to those who fall outside or beyond the conventional schooling structure. When any one of these pillars underperforms, the impact is felt across the whole system. A board that designs a curriculum without teacher input from SCERTs risks producing learning materials that are academically sound but pedagogically impractical. An SCERT that trains teachers without awareness of vocational pathways risks preparing educators for only a part of the student population they serve. And vocational bodies that operate in isolation from school systems risk producing skills that are unrecognised and therefore unemployable.

India’s educational governance is, by necessity, decentralised. With 28 states, 8 union territories, and enormous socio-economic and linguistic diversity, no single central institution can adequately address every context. The state-level architecture described above exists precisely to bridge national educational goals with ground-level realities – a balance that remains a work in progress, but one that is structurally sound in its design.

What do you think? Given that SCERTs are responsible for both curriculum development and teacher training, do you think a single body can effectively manage both functions without one overshadowing the other? And as India pushes to mainstream vocational education through the NEP 2020, what structural changes would make state-level vocational bodies more effective in reaching out-of-school youth and adults?

References

1. https://www.cobse.net.in/list-of-boards.html
2. https://www.21kschool.com/gh/blog/education-boards-in-india/
3. https://www.cobse.org.in/
4. https://gostudyin.com/india/study-in-uk/study-guides/state-national-and-international-boards-india/
5. https://scert.nagaland.gov.in/
6. https://scert.assam.gov.in/about-us/detail/function-and-objectives-1
7. https://scert.delhi.gov.in/scert/about-scertstate-council-educational-research-and-training
8. https://scertdelhi.admissions.nic.in/about-department/
9. https://scert.kerala.gov.in/
10. https://scert.delhi.gov.in/sec/welcome-state-council-educational-research-and-training-scert
11. https://dsel.education.gov.in/en/nios
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_of_Open_Schooling
13. https://nios.website/about/
14. https://asercentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Vocational-thematic_V4.pdf
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Skill_Development_Corporation
16. https://ncvet.gov.in/
17. https://nsdcindia.org/regulatory-body-ncvet
18. https://nsdcindia.org/national-occupational-standards-and-model-curriculum
19. https://nsdcindia.org/literacy-education-and-vocational-training
20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocational_education_in_India