Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Kohima: Nagaland is gutting its government school system. Advisor for School Education Dr. Kekhrielhoulie Yhome announced the plans on Saturday, August 22. The state will shutter low-enrolment schools and merge them into composite institutions. This move aims to keep students in the system from elementary levels all the way to higher secondary classes. Better infrastructure and governance are the goals.
The department found an uneven split of staff. Some schools have too many teachers, while others suffer from massive shortages in math, physics, and chemistry. The state will redeploy its current workforce to patch these gaps. Yhome confirmed an emergency recruitment drive for graduate teachers in these subjects. If the state cannot find local talent, the government may look elsewhere. Yhome said, "The issue has been recognised by the state Cabinet, and the modalities for the recruitment will be worked out by the government."
Currently, the Nagaland Government Higher Secondary School Employees Association includes 780 postgraduate teachers. Another 70 will join shortly, and 30 more roles are coming soon. The state is also tightening the leash on teacher attendance. A new mobile app is under development to track records. It will link leave data directly to performance reports. Even with poor internet in remote areas, teachers must sync their data once they reach a service zone.
Beyond staff, the state is tinkering with the curriculum. It is pushing mother-tongue education, music, arts, and even AI. Schools under the Nagaland Board of School Education must follow the state language policy. CBSE and CISCE schools follow their own board rules. Meanwhile, union president Yekavi Swu is demanding a hard look at decade-old service rules. He wants a better balance between exams and co-curricular work under the National Education Policy 2020.
Updated at 23rd August 2026 at 1:48am
The state is branching out beyond traditional subjects. Yhome flagged a pending August 28 memorandum of understanding with Google to bolster digital education and STEM learning. Collaborations with Yamaha International are already pushing music education into classrooms, alongside Saturday Art Classes that cover gaming, animation, and videography. To sharpen leadership, the department launched a School Leadership Academy for headmasters and their deputies.
Government brass also promised to tackle the bottleneck in teacher promotions. Officials are weighing a non-functional upgradation system, which would allow teachers to draw higher pay and benefits even when specific promotional slots remain empty. This move aims to fix long-term career stagnation while the department audits its 2017 service rules.
Data shows the urgency of these reforms. Enrollment across state-run higher secondary streams dropped by 481 students between 2025 and 2026. Yhome vowed that all restructuring, including the potential downgrading of poor-performing high schools and the abandonment of failing sites, will involve consultation with local stakeholders before the next academic year.
Updated at 23rd August 2026 at 1:48pm
The state is expanding its digital reach. Yhome announced a memorandum of understanding with Google set for August 28 to beef up STEM learning and the broader digital school ecosystem. Beyond tech, the department is leaning on partnerships with Yamaha International to scale up music education across government campuses.
To stop good teachers from hitting a wall, the government is eyeing a non-functional upgradation system. This would allow staff to collect higher pay and benefits even when specific promotional slots remain empty, a move aimed at clearing long-standing career bottlenecks. Officials are also combing through government rules to fast-track pending promotions.
The push for change comes as numbers paint a grim picture. Enrollment across state-run higher secondary streams slid by 481 students between 2025 and 2026. Data also reveals that retiree costs are draining the budget, with the government shelling out 1,038 crore rupees on medical reimbursements and leave encashment over the last five years alone. Yhome noted that some retirees filed for leave encashment despite spotty attendance records, a loophole the new tracking system intends to plug.
The department has officially launched a statistical report tracking school performance in HSSLC exams to guide the upcoming structural reviews. Yhome stressed that the government is not looking to hollow out the system, but rather to reshape it based on geography, enrollment, and actual needs. Final decisions on closures or site abandonment will wait until after consultations with local stakeholders wrap up ahead of the next academic year.
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