Education - Public sector

Education branch is one of the sectors of public sector (according to COFOG classification). It includes education services at schools of all levels and similar facilities which operate wholly or partly from public funds. As one of the branches of public sector, it is always a subset of the broader education branch (this includes all educational services, even those that are fully private and commercial nature).
Generally it cannot be determined which educational services are part of the public sector and which are not because the education system of each country is differentand the extent of the education that are paid from public funds (and they are part of the public sector) is therefore different.

In most countries, the primary (elementary) and secondary education are part of the public sector. For other types of education, there are significant differences between countries.

• Pre-primary education (preschool education)
• Primary education (elementary schools)

• Secondary education (high schools)

  • General secondary education
  • Technical and vocational secondary education
• Post-secondary non-tertiary education
• Tertiary education (colleges)
• Education not definable by level
• Supporting services to education
• Applied research and development in education
• Further education (adult education)

In addition to public schools, there are also private kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools and universities which are not included in the public sector. However they are subject to regulation by the Ministry of Education and other public authorities.