A startling discrepancy between the number of schools and the state’s population was found in a recent examination of Meghalaya’s educational situation. Meghalaya has 14,582 schools, a sharp difference to Tripura’s 4,929 establishments, although having a smaller population. There are 55,160 instructors spread throughout 4,172 aided schools and 7,783 government schools. In comparison, Manipur only has 4,617 schools despite having a nearly identical population.
Less than 5% of all schools are nationally supported, but in Meghalaya, that number rises to 29%. Himachal Pradesh, which has more challenging topography, has 17,826 schools for its 68.64 lakh people, but Kerala, which has a population ten times larger, only has 15,864 schools. With 2,269 schools reporting single-digit attendance and 206 schools reporting no pupils, this data also highlights concerning enrollment inequalities. Of the SSA schools, 268 reported having fewer than ten students, and 30 reported having no students enrolled.
The situation was no better at the government schools, where 132 had enrollments in the single digits and 11 reported having no students. The fact that different schools are counted more than once is one of the causes of this disparity. The research claims that private schools frequently submit applications for several government subsidies, which inflates the statistics. After eliminating duplicates, the state’s true unique school count drops to 10,867, indicating a significant overestimation of 3,029 establishments.
