Schools in Chennai are either run by the Tamil Nadu government or by the private organizations. The medium of education in private schools is English but government schools offer both English and Tamil medium of education. Private schools are usually affiliated to the CBSE or to the Tamil Nadu State Board. A few schools are affiliated to the ICSE board and the Montessori system. There are some schools which offer the International Baccalaureate and the American systems.

The city is a home to many renowned institutes like IIT Madras, Anna University, Central Leather Research Institute, National Institute of Technology-Guindy, National Institute of Fashion Technology and Loyola College. These institutes provide quality education in their respective field.