Literacy and education, among others, are seen as a catalyst to socio-economic mobility and crucial pointers of progress and overall development of a society. They play central roles in human development that impacts the overall social-economic development milieu, reads a Census of India report.
Over the years, Nagaland State has made commendable stride in literacy rate, often taken as a yardstick for the level of educational attainment. For instance, in 1971, the first Census of India after Nagaland’s Statehood in 1963, the literacy rate was mere 27.40%. In a decade, it nearly doubled to 50.2% in 1981 and since then, it has been consistently increasing.
At the last official count, the rate was 80.11% as per the 2011 Census. In other words, out of every 10 persons above 7 years, more than 8 can ‘both read and write with understanding in any language or, literate.’
However, for many, the ladder for upward mobility is literally halted right after their inclusion as ‘literates’ in Nagaland.
The 2018-19 provisional data on enrolment available on the Ministry of Education’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+) Dashboard clearly attests to such assertion.
As per the data, the total enrollment of students in the primary (ages 6 to 10) section was 187341. By the time they reached upper primary levels (ages 11 to 12), the number dropped to 100115. To put it bluntly, over 46.56% of the students from the primary section could not reach the upper primary level or dropped out of their studies. The number dropped further by a considerable 70.13% to 55946 at the secondary level.
As one moves up the educational ladder to higher secondary level, there was a dramatic fall from entry point - out of 187341 enrollments at primary level, only 32899 reached the higher secondary level, an over 82.43% decline.
It should be noted here that an absolute comparison of numbers given cannot be made as figures on the Dashboard reflect the status as of 2018-19, while there are time lags among the different stages of schooling. Nonetheless, given the consistency of fall from one level to another, inferences can be made with fair degrees of certainty that the dropout rates would not vary considerably.
Simply stated, over 8 out of 10 are dropping out of school in Nagaland before reaching class 12, while only 3 out of 10 students (70.13%) enrolling at the primary level reaches secondary level.
Several social-economic and political factors, both at the individual and institutional level, can contribute to dropout rate and to a certain degree, it is natural and understandable.
However, the magnitude of the rates, as reflected by the data given on the UDISE+ Dashboard is disconcerting and needs urgent and thorough assessment by the concerned authority as well as other stakeholders.
