Getting Practically Educated

Nagaland’s higher-secondary challenge is not simply a matter of getting more young people into classrooms; it is about ensuring that education leads somewhere. The state’s UDISE+ 2024-25 profile reports 218 higher-secondary schools and 79,980 students in Classes 11-12. Yet its gross enrolment ratio (GER) is 39.8%, against 58.4% nationally. Access after Class 10 remains a serious weakness. The transition rate sharpens the concern. In 2024-25, 75.3% of students moved from secondary to higher-secondary education, meaning roughly one in four did not continue to Class 11. GER compares enrolment in Classes 11-12 with the population in the official age group; it is a useful access measure, not a direct measure of timely completion. The figures reveal a retention and transition gap, rather than simply a shortage of eligible young people. For those who do continue, weak access, quality and affordability can make the next stage difficult. Policy must strengthen higher-secondary access and make learning relevant to work. Practical-skills diplomas could help, but they should complement– not excuse neglect of– the task of keeping students in education. Nagaland has a foundation on which to build. Vocational education is offered in 171 schools, with trades in Classes 9-12, more than 80 hours of internships and certification through Sector Skill Councils. Nine government ITIs offer 16 trades; Mobile Skill Morung vans reach remote areas; and PMKVY and the Nagaland Skill & Entrepreneurship Development Mission add training and support. The mission aims to reach 5,000 young people with placement or self-employment support. The opportunity is to connect these institutions, not create another layer of bureaucracy. A flexible pathway is also possible under the national education framework, which allows certificates, diplomas, advanced diplomas, B.Voc. and M.Voc. programmes, as well as apprenticeship-embedded degrees and multiple entry and exit points. But flexibility alone will not make a qualification valuable. Courses must respond to demonstrated local and regional demand. Construction, hospitality, healthcare, information technology, green industries and creative fields are among the priorities identified by the mission. There is reason for optimism, but not for easy promises. Evidence on skill programmes in India is mixed. Some training has improved employment, self-employment, working hours and earnings; other programmes leave trainees without work when instruction is disconnected from capital, tools and markets. Outcomes are stronger when programmes combine practical teaching with participant selection and active placement support. A certificate, by itself, is not a livelihood. Nor should self-employment become the only measure of success. Some young people will seek jobs or further education, and the aim should be to expand choices, not channel everyone into enterprise. Those who want to build livelihoods need more than instruction: certification, apprenticeships, tools, credit, mentoring and reliable links to customers. Training providers should be judged by whether those connections work, not merely by how many people enroll or graduate. The policy test is thus twofold: reduce the leakage after Class 10 and make vocational learning a credible route to decent work. That requires schools, ITIs, colleges, training partners, banks and local enterprises to work as one system. If Nagaland ties practical diplomas to apprenticeships, finance and buyers, it can help more young people turn skills into livelihoods. If it does not, it risks producing certificates without opportunity. The measure of success should be not training thousands, but enabling young people to continue learning and earn a living.