Story Highlights

• Students in Nagaland would face several challenges in government schools which had limited access to amenities like science laboratories or sports complexes. Adequate teaching materials or qualified instruction was also missing.
• In 2020, the government partnered with the World Bank for the Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources (NECTAR) Project, the Bank’s first education initiative in the underserved northeast region.
• Nagaland's Grade 10 completion rate jumped from 34% to 47% in three years — a 13-percentage-point improvement by 2024-25. With language and math scores also on the rise, young people across the state are increasingly aspiring to better and quality jobs.

You always remember that one special teacher from your school days. The one who made you want to learn and inspired you to pursue higher education and later, a career.

In India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, Ms Rokovono Meyase, from Kohima district, is one such teacher. The atmosphere is electric as soon as she walks into the classroom. Students are immediately engaged, enthralled, laughing and learning at the same time. That’s quite an achievement since the subject she teaches is math, one that her students found daunting not so long ago.

A couple of years ago, however, Ms Meyase would come to RÜZHÜKHRIE Government Higher Secondary School without a clear lesson plan. Nor did she know how she could help her students overcome their fear of the subject and reach their full potential.

“Improved teaching methods equal better results in students. After training, I found math teaching and learning can be fun. I introduced the students to pair work and group work, and could encourage girls to be interested in maths,” she said. “It has helped their confidence and they learn from each other.”

Now, many of her Class 12 students say they want to continue studying and go on to work as researchers, scientists and engineers when they grow up.

“I want to become an environment researcher one day,” said Kimiyeni Swu, Class 12.

In Search of Quality Education

Nagaland is a hilly state with forests leading to poor roads and connectivity. Three-fourths of households are in rural areas with more than 60 percent of the population depending on agriculture for their livelihood. More than 85 percent of all salaried jobs are in the government/public sector, and the next biggest employer is the Church. As a result, many young people often leave the state in search of jobs.

Due to the topography, schools are unevenly spread out in rural and urban centers. A decade ago, Nagaland’s enrollment rates were low, dropout rates at the primary level were the second highest in the country, and only one in three children went on to secondary school. According to government estimates, two-thirds of those who remained never finished school.

The state’s 2,000 schools had limited access to amenities like libraries, science laboratories or sports complexes for 150,000 students. Rural students—often the first in their families to attend school—did not receive adequate teaching materials or qualified instruction.

“Before, there was less trust in government schools due to poor teacher quality and lack of staff,” said a rural school administrator from Porba village. “But now it is improving. I’m proud of my students and I’m sure they will become good leaders who will contribute to the state’s growth.”

A New Approach to School Transformation

In 2020, recognizing the urgent need of building people’s abilities to face the modern world, the Nagaland government partnered with the World Bank on a small but ambitious initiative: the $56.5 million Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources (NECTAR) Project.

It was the World Bank’s first education initiative in the underserved northeast region that was directly implemented by a state government.

“The Project took a holistic approach, addressing not just classrooms but the entire school ecosystem: strengthening governance, modernizing teacher management systems, building essential infrastructure, and developing teaching quality,” said Kanupriya Misra, project task team lead. “Rather than piecemeal interventions, it targeted 16 school complexes as transformation hubs, while simultaneously upgrading systems across the state.”

Six years after the project began, there is visible impact. By academic year 2024-25, Nagaland’s Grade 10 completion rate climbed from 34% to 47% - a 13-percentage-point improvement in just three years. There have been improvements in grade three language and math scores from 60% and 51% in 2021 to 63% and 57% in 2024 on the National Achievement Survey, now called the Parakh Rashtriya Sarvekshan (PRS).

Building Systems That Drive Change

Through the initiative, school leaders now better understand their new responsibilities. The new tools, set to launch fully by August 2026, include a Teacher Attendance and Management System that tracks whether teachers are present in their classrooms. An Education Management Information System provides real-time data on student enrollment, progression, and learning.

Till date, nearly half of all district and sub-district education managers or almost 44% have been trained in modern management practices, exceeding targets.

School leadership training has given opportunities to administrators,” said Aluou Shuya, vice-principal of Government Higher Secondary School in Jotsoma. “Now we can deal with issues facing our schools and it gives me confidence. “Our only objective is the hope that they will discover new talents and skills to explore and find jobs.

The project’s Performance Incentive Grants have helped the school impart new skills training to students in painting, crochet, carpentry, gardening, and other subjects. In the school’s garden, a group of boys sat around learning the traditional art of basket weaving. “I enjoy doing this very much,” said Mengulhulie Nagi, a Class 9 student. “One day I want to start a business and create jobs in Nagaland.”

More fundamentally, teachers are being trained and equipped with contemporary pedagogies that engage students, encourage critical thinking, and build confidence. For a generation of students taught through rote learning, this is a profound shift indeed.

“I was teaching for 15 years but now I have learned digital competency,” said Moses Yimchunger, an accountancy teacher. “Data changes everything. It connects real world to the subject. When you can see where learning is weakest, you can act.”

Over 130,000 students now benefit from learning interventions introduced by the project. More than half of them are girls — a critical milestone in a state working to close the gender gap in education. In fact, in the most recent high school examinations, girls outperformed boys in all subjects, including science subjects. Some 87% of them passed, as opposed to 83% of boys.

Transforming Classrooms

But systems alone do not transform learning. Students also need places that encourage them to learn.

Modern classrooms are being built across 16 selected Lighthouse School Complexes. Science laboratories—long absent from rural Nagaland schools—are in the process of construction, and libraries are being established. These civil works are almost half done with contractors hired from within the state. This is significant in a state where private sector investments are scarce, credit availability is low, and interstate migration rate is the highest amongst the Northeastern states.

In addition, the incentive grants have helped school committees to do bottom-up planning with community contributions touching almost $300,000. For rural schools such as the Government High School, Porba, the grants have been a boon for funding school amenities, making basic repairs to starting kitchen gardens and football camps.

“The project has fostered community ownership and accountability. Parent-teacher meetings have enhanced transparency, encouraging parents to be more involved in their children’s education,” said Shashank Pratap Singh, Principal Director, Directorate of School Education and Project Director of NECTAR.

Building Momentum for the Future

Nagaland has shown that comprehensive approaches to education—grounded in data, focused on teaching quality, with sustainable resources leading to change—can overcome many challenges. And the teachers being trained today are becoming mentors for tomorrow’s cohorts.

“I love maths and want to teach the coming generation,” said Khrieleto Rino, a Grade 12 student. “If I can make learning fun for someone else then that makes me happy.”

For a state where access to quality education was a significant barrier to opportunity, hundreds of young people are now positioned to pursue further studies and secure better livelihoods.