Kolkata and Its Educational System

Kolkata was formerly known as Calcutta. It is the capital city of the state of West Bengal and the only metropolis in eastern India. It is nestled on the banks of the river Hoogly. It also is India's third largest metropolitan area.

It has always been a centre of modern education  in the country. It has also been home to the politics and culture  and science and industry in India. It is has always been a city which has been actively involved in the politics of the state and the country and has thus witnessed severe political violence, economic stagnation and clashes since the 1950's.

The city has always been favourable to its educational system and has a high literacy rate of 81%. The colleges and other educational institutions in the state are run by the private organisations or the state government. The medium of instruction in the institutions here is either English or Bengali.

Students can choose from various streams like Science, Commerce or Liberal arts. Apart from these, the institutions in the city also offer other vocational degrees and professional programs. Kolkata is home to nine universities and various colleges which are affiliated to these universities or other universities located outside the city.

The Kolkata university has more than 200 affiliated colleges under them. These universities and colleges do not impart education in an uniform mode. There are certain universities which only follow the traditional mode of education while others impart both traditional and distance learning education. The level of degrees and certificate they provide is undergraduate, graduate, diploma and certificate courses as well as doctoral programs.