
Gross Enrolment Ratio among lowest in India
Moa Jamir
Dimapur | January 25
12 schools in Nagaland with zero enrolments in 2024 were reflected in the latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data. According to the UDISE+ 2023-24 report, Nagaland had a total of 2,725 schools with an overall enrolment of 412,975 pupils, averaging 152 students per school. However, the report did not specify whether the schools with zero enrolments were government- or privately-managed.
Despite having no students, these 12 schools employed a total of 24 teachers. Interestingly, in 2022-23, no schools in the state were recorded as having zero enrolments.
On a positive note, the number of schools managed by a single teacher decreased from 35 in 2022-23 to 31 in 2023-24. These 31 single-teacher schools collectively enrolled 368 students.
Across the North-East, Assam was the only state without any schools registering zero enrolments, while Sikkim had one. Tripura recorded the third-lowest number at 10, followed by Nagaland at 12. Arunachal Pradesh had the highest number of schools with zero enrolments in the region, with a staggering 240, followed by Meghalaya with 146, Manipur with 83, and Mizoram with 39.
Nationally, there were 12,954 schools with zero enrolments in 2023-24. Additionally, 110,971 schools were managed by a single teacher, with a combined enrolment of 3,994,097 students.
Meanwhile, as reported earlier, student enrolment in schools across Nagaland has declined significantly. Between the academic years 2015-16 and 2023-24, enrolment fell by over 21%, dropping from 530,177 to 412,975—a decrease of 117,202 students.
UDISE+ is one of the largest Management Information Systems initiated by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Union Ministry of Education.
Concerning GER in Upper Primary and Secondary Levels
With declining overall enrolment, Nagaland’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), expressed as a percentage of the population in the official age group, is among the lowest in India.
As per the latest report, Nagaland’s GER at the Primary level (enrolment in Classes 1 to 5 as a percentage of the population aged 6–10 years) was 94, slightly above the national average of 93. However, the GER dropped significantly at the Upper Primary and Secondary levels.
At the Upper Primary level, Nagaland’s GER fell to 72, the lowest in India after Bihar at 68, compared to the national average of 90. Similarly, at the Secondary level, Nagaland recorded the second-lowest GER at 46, just above Bihar, and well below the national average of 77. At the Higher Secondary level, Nagaland had the fourth-lowest GER at 40.
In 2022-23, when the school system was reclassified into Foundational (Pre-Primary and Primary), Preparatory (partly Primary), Middle (Upper Primary), and Secondary (Secondary and Higher Secondary) in line with the NEP 2020’s 5+3+3+4 structure, Nagaland showed similar trends. The state had a lower GER in both the Middle and Secondary levels and ranked third-lowest at the Preparatory level.
At the Foundational level, Nagaland achieved a GER of 77, the seventh highest in India.
With student enrolments falling by over 21% since 2015-16 and critical GER indicators at Upper Primary and Secondary levels ranking among the lowest nationally, Nagaland’s path to achieving NEP 2030’s goal of universal education remains steep.
This is the second report in a series titled ‘Nagaland’s UDISE+ Report Card.’