Shillong: Meghalaya secured the 18th spot out of 30 states and territories in the Ease of Operating Schools Index 2026. The New Delhi-based Centre for Civil Society presented this data to the state Education Department on Thursday. The index measures how regulatory frameworks, rather than implementation, affect unaided private schools through December 2025.
Commissioner and Secretary R Rapthap led the meeting with senior officials. M K Lyngdoh of the Directorate of School Education and Literacy must now examine the proposed reforms. Telangana leads the country for school operations, while Sikkim sits at the bottom.
Private schools educate 63.8 per cent of all pupils in Meghalaya, jumping to 88.6 per cent for Classes IX and X. However, complex legal and cultural hurdles make launching new schools difficult. Current mandates require 2.5 acres of land in cities and 3.5 acres in the countryside. The Centre for Civil Society wants the state to cut these barriers. They specifically urged officials to look into special land acquisition provisions.
Policy Director Manoj Mathew advocates for broader systemic changes. He wants reforms to measure child learning outcomes and give parents more power. Mathew said, "CCS’s approach went beyond ease of operating schools and sought to advance education policy reforms at the state level by measuring what children learn, ensuring that funding follows the child and trusting parents to choose the school they prefer."
The think tank proposed creating a Public-Private Partnership policy for rural model schools. They also offered to review the Meghalaya State Education Policy 2018 to match it with the National Education Policy. The group is pushing for predictable rules and simpler compliance to help quality edupreneurs.
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