Japanese Schools
Japanese Living

for further reading: Wikipedia

Japanese schools are fairly similar to Western schools with a few exceptions. Most schools require students to wear uniforms, which is commonly seen in many manga, anime and Japanese television programs. Japanese high schools are comprised of grades ten, eleven and twelve, with ninth grade falling into junior high school.

Relevance to Ranma 1/2

Ranma 1/2 takes place at Furinkan High school, which plays a large part of the dynamic of the series. Pictured above is an actual Nerima area high school.