"Pupil" or "Student", what is the correct use?
In the UK all school children were once known as pupils. Now older ones at least, as well as people in higher education, are known as students, so the former term is disappearing. It retains its rather specialised sense in describing a trainee barrister.
I am from the United States and work in the public schools. It's my experience that people attending school at all grade school are by far most typically referred to as "students," rather than "pupils," both in conversation and in writing. I have met non-native speakers who find it disconcerting that we use the same word for first-graders as college students, but it is the standard word to use, at least in the U.S. As one example, the school standards for the state of Minnesota refer to "students" throughout, regardless of age. For instance:
"The grades K–5 standards on the following pages define what students should understand and be able to do by the end of each grade." (K-5 means kindergarten through 5th grade, ages five to eleven or so.)
You can also just refer to them as "kids" or "children," if the school context is already there. If you know the specific grade, you can say "first graders," "second graders," etc. "Pupils" in any context is more unusual and sounds more old-fashioned.
If you're interested, the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in English Language Arts are available for download at http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/EdExc/StanCurri/K-12AcademicStandards/index.htm.
In the following, the use of student is correct while the use of pupil is incorrect.
I am a student of history.
I am a pupil of history.
In the following, the use of pupil is correct while the use of student is not (although it is sometimes misused as such).
I am a pupil of Feynman.
I am a student of Feynman.
The latter implies that you are studying Feynman ... The alternative usage of "I am Feynman's student" is not as commonly misunderstood and has entered common parlance.
I hope this may help you to understand the difference between Pupil and Student:
A pupil refers to a young learner, usually those who are in secondary school and below, while a student refers to learners who are enrolled in a college or university.
A pupil usually needs supervision and guidance from a teacher because of his young age or special needs while a student does not because he can already learn and study by himself.
Pupils are those learners who are below 18 years old while students are those learners who are above 18 years old.
The word “pupil” comes from the Latin word “pupillus” which means “minor or ward” while the word “student” comes from the Latin word “stadium” which means study.
Source: http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-pupil-and-student/#ixzz54yQxRdrT
In South Africa (British colony till 1910 and ongoing strong influence till 1961) children in junior school (5 - 12 y old) and high school (13 - 18 years old) were referred to as "pupils". "Students" was only used to refer to people enrolled in university or some form of post-secondary (tertiary) education. I was born and raised in South Africa and emigrated to the USA in the early 1990's. I never hear or read "pupils" in the US. "Students" is a term used throughout. Americans are funny! They do not speak English. They speak a closely related language, American English. Referring to pupils as "students" is just the beginning. They even have graduation ceremonies for preschool and graduation ceremonies for middle school. And high school graduation here is a big big deal.