GUWAHATI: Meghalaya has more schools than needed, a departmental study revealed. The state has 14,582 schools against a population of 29,66,889 (Census 2011).
For comparison, Manipur, with a population of 25,70,390, has only 4,617 schools while Tripura (population 36,73,917) has only 4,929 schools.
Similarly, Himachal Pradesh, which has a more challenging terrain than Meghalaya, has 17,826 schools, serving a population of 68.64 lakh.
Kerala, with a population of 3.34 crore -- more than 11 times that of Meghalaya, has more or less the same number of schools -- 15,864.
This disproportionate number of schools in Meghalaya has resulted in skewed student enrollment.
Another key finding of the study is that Meghalaya has 206 schools with zero enrolment and 2,269 schools with single-digit enrolment.
Additionally, the state has an unusually high number of aided schools. Nationwide, aided schools account for less than 5 per cent of the total number of schools. However, in Meghalaya, the proportion is 29 per cent.
According to the study, a reason behind the large number of schools is that a single school is often counted multiple times in the data.
“This occurs when a private school seeks multiple grants from the government. For example, a school may be counted as four separate schools (SSA, Adhoc, Deficit and Private), even though it is managed and owned by a single entity,” the study said.
As far as performance is concerned, the pass percentage of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination in the state in the past ten years was between 50.31 and 56.96.
When asked if the government will merge the schools with zero enrolment with nearby schools as done in neighbouring Assam, Commissioner & Secretary Vijay Mantri told TNIE that the government would take a decision by the end of February.
Meghalaya also has a skewed distribution of institutes of higher education.
East Khasi Hills district has 47 such institutes as against 15 in West Garo Hills, ten in Ri-Bhoi, seven in West Jaintia Hills, three each in Eastern West Khasi Hills, South West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, two each in East Garo Hills and South West Khasi Hills and one each in East Jaintia Hills, North Garo Hills and South Garo Hills districts.