Canada has three levels of education, elementary school, secondary school and post-secondary school. Elementary school begins at about age 6 and goes until about age 12. Secondary school starts at about age 12 and continues until about age 17. Post secondary schools consist of colleges, universities, trade schools, technical schools etc. Most elementary and secondary schools are publicly funded, so education at these levels is free although many private schools do exist. Canada has one of the highest education rates in the world (41% have some sort of post-secondary education) and this is in part due to the free elementary and secondary schools, and the reasonable cost of going to post-secondary institutions as well as the wide availability of scholarships and grants.