ABSTRACT
The study participants paint a very detailed and colourful picture of the educational environment in which they received their elementary and secondary education. A number of issues emerge from the interviews that show both the remarkable uniformity of the national education system and the diversity that arises from different local practices in the regions in which the students received their early education. The first and most striking factor to note when thinking about the participants' education is the wide range of ages at which they began their elementary school careers. The majority of students began their education between six and seven years old, but some began school at age eight, which seems quite late, given evolving government policy stipulating six years as school-starting age. The first significant hurdle in terms of formal assessment that study participants noted in their accounts was the middle school entrance examination.
