Reports including Nagaland Economic Survey 2025-2026 have stated that girls recorded lower dropout, higher Gross Enrolment Ratio and fare better than boys in education.
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One very discouraging trend is the increasing rate of unemployment, especially among educated youth in Nagaland, perhaps one of the highest in the country
We already knew that girls and women are racing ahead in education in Nagaland. This was further reiterated in the Nagaland Economic Survey 2025-2026 report issued by the State Directorate of Economics and Statistics. The report stated that girls recorded lower dropout and repetition rates in primary, upper primary, elementary, secondary, and higher secondary education in Nagaland between 2021 and 2024. Based on data from UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus), the report further stated that girls consistently recorded higher Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), retention rates and promotion rates than boys at all levels during 2021–2022 and 2022–2024. This means girls registered lower dropout and repetition rates than boys across all levels during the same period. The report further details boys’ and girls’ overall dropout and repetition rates across all levels from 2021 to 2025.
The point here is that our girls are faring much better in school education. Likewise, they are said to be doing much better in higher education. Not surprisingly, the majority of employees across the hierarchy in state government service are also said to be women. However, these data do not warm the cockles of the feminist heart and mind because growth, development, and progress cannot be achieved by only one section of society. That is the very realisation and logic which have propelled women’s empowerment measures and movements in our country and others. So, it is time to focus attention on why our boys are not doing as well as our girls.
As in any patriarchal society, boys have the historical advantage; inversely, girls have the historical disadvantage. Paradoxically, we see girls faring much better in education across the country. Though I do not have the exact data on the national dropout, repetition and promotion rates of boys and girls, we are told that in some parts of the country dropout rates of girls are higher than those of boys. In Nagaland, which is as patriarchal as any other Indian state, available data indicate the opposite. For Nagaland, this is good news but also equally not-so-good news because we also need our boys to do equally well. Though there are several issues of feminism that are perceived as problematic—quite naturally in patriarchal societies, mostly due to ignorance and/or pure obduracy to apply the mind to feminist ideology—the fact is feminism advocates equality and equal opportunity.
This means that boys and girls are to be treated equally and given equal opportunities. Our topic today is not feminism, but rather to focus on why our boys are dropping out of school. Therefore, the same encouragement that was given to girls to stay in school and do well must now be extended to our boys. But it is also imperative that the factors causing boys’ higher dropout, repetition, and lower promotion rates are studied and analysed so as to remedy the problem. Much has gone towards addressing and redressing socio-economic, cultural, traditional, religious, and political factors that prevented girls from going to school and doing well. Though some such factors still persist and need to be addressed, somehow, with whatever remedies were provided, our girls have made the best use of them. Now, because it cannot be overstated that our boys must do equally well as our girls, some aspects of these very same factors may provide a clue as to why our boys are not living up to expectations.
Factors such as politics, corruption, nepotism, unemployment, etc., do have a detrimental impact on impressionable minds that are now well connected to global trends. Socio-economic, cultural, traditional, and religious factors also have a deterring impact on young minds. For instance, our customary laws favour males in terms of decision-making, leadership positions and inheritance, etc., which do not require any educational qualifications. This is possibly one reason why our boys are complacent and do not feel the need to strive for excellence at a subconscious level. Inversely, this is probably exactly the reason why our girls are doing better, because they only have their education to call their own. It is also true that parents here are very encouraging towards their daughters’ education, but that does not mean that they are less encouraging towards their sons. It probably means that our girls fully understand the value of education in changing their lives. So, how do we make our boys also understand the value of education?
One very discouraging trend is the increasing rate of unemployment, especially among educated youth in Nagaland, perhaps one of the highest in the country. The constant message to opt for entrepreneurship does not help either because entrepreneurship also needs educated people. Another factor could be the education system itself, which is mark- or grade-centric and does not encourage creativity, originality, and critical thinking, thus failing to draw out a child’s potential. Then there is the issue of alcohol and substance abuse. Nagaland has already lost several generations of boys and men to insurgency, alcohol, and substance abuse. The state now cannot afford to lose another generation of boys to being uneducated and unqualified. Over the decades, a certain laxity in the discipline of youngsters and the failure to instil the virtues of hard work and perseverance are also perceptible.
The scope of this column is too limited to detail all the possible factors behind our boys dropping out of school. However, if the issues discussed here draw the attention of parents, teachers, policymakers, and all concerned—not only in Nagaland but also in other Northeastern states facing similar issues—it would have served its purpose. As said earlier, this matter cannot be overstated, for if left unaddressed for long, it would affect every aspect of our societal existence and survival. Considering how deeply patriarchy is entrenched in our society, imagine a future wherein uneducated males rule over educated females. This is already happening in Nagaland and in the country, but the nightmarish potential in a more fearsome form spells doom.
If males must insist on leadership roles, should they not at least be educated and well armed with the required knowledge? Ultimately, this is not about male versus female, but about balance—an equilibrium in society and state. And that comes about only when there is balance in the educational growth of boys and girls.
Monalisa Changkija
(The writer is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet, and former Editor of Nagaland Page. Published in the April 19, 2026 issue of North East Now)