This study documents the student leadership skills in selected alternative education and mainstream schools in India and explores the implications for enhancing school curriculum in India to better address the changing needs of public education in the context of a global economy. This exploratory study offers a comparative analysis of leadership skills in India in both mainstream and alternative education schools. The study was done using the Leadership Skills Inventory (LSI) developed by Karnes and Chauvin (1985). The alternative school students consistently scored higher in all dimensions. The differences were statistically significant on combined leadership dimensions and two of the nine individual dimensions. (Contains 12 figures, 6 tables and 46 footnotes.)