By Glenn C Kharkongor
The Meghalaya State Education Commission Report 2025 (hereafter referred to as the Report) devotes a major chapter to higher education. This 53-page segment contains substantial data, though there are notable gaps. Overall, the recommendations in the Report correspond fairly well with the data and address key challenges, though some areas need more data and deeper examination. The purpose of this article is to highlight certain findings of the Report and to suggest points for action.
Enrolment patterns
According to the Report, the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) had 60 affiliated colleges in 2024 with an undergraduate enrollment of 59,838 students. Of these, 46,259 students (82.3%) were enrolled in Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees. This is an inordinately high proportion and does not augur well for prospects in the job market or for the development of the state.
According to the All India Survey on Higher Education 2021, released by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, enrolment at the undergraduate level in arts in India is 33.5%. In China it is about 25%. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 survey, 72.7% of Tamil Nadu students opt for higher studies in STEM education. Unfortunately, the opportunity to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in Meghalaya is available only to a small fraction of students.
A clear mismatch exists between existing degree programs in Meghalaya, market demands and student aspirations. In NEHU only 10.4% are enrolled in science courses, and a mere 7.7% in applied or skill-based programs. To illustrate, computer applications students constitute only about 0.01%, and tourism management students around 0.02% of the NEHU enrolment.
Even in management and other disciplines, the enrollment is miniscule. The figures do not make easy reading: B.Com degrees were offered in 23 colleges with 4,733 students and BBA only in three colleges with 1,255 students. BSc was available in 13 colleges with 6,242 students. The BCA program had five colleges and 580 students. The Bachelor of Tourism and Travel Management (BTTM) had just a single college with 90 students. The Bachelor of Arts in Music is offered in only one college with 110 students, and the Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication in just one college with 60 students.
Economists and social scientists the world over recommend a strong STEM priority, especially in countries where there is an acute need to develop infrastructure, industry, and services. In the United States, STEM supports 67% of jobs and 69% of the GDP.
The enrolment pattern in Meghalaya reveals several critical issues. The small number of science students limits the future supply of qualified science teachers and researchers in the state. This needs to be seen in the backdrop of the rising demand across the world for IT professionals with new skills such as artificial intelligence. Yet very few students in the state are entering computer-related programs.
Tourism, one of Meghalaya’s most promising sectors, remains neglected as a subject in higher education. Despite music being a natural cultural strength of the region, very few students are able to pursue it at the degree level. The conclusion is clear: there is a serious misalignment between the disciplines offered and the skill-based, employment-oriented needs of the state and market.
Low exam participation, high dropout
There are other statistics which are most disconcerting. Less than half of the students enrolled as undergraduates at NEHU appeared for the examinations in 2024. Of 59,838 students, only 29,905 sat for their exams. The Report does not explain this major discrepancy and why there was such a high drop out at that critical stage of education. In my view, the reasons may include the following: 1. Courses may not align with student aspirations or job prospects. 2. A significant number of students may have dropped out for other reasons such as motivation, financial, exam-anxiety, or lack of sufficient attendance.
According to the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), the dropout rate from higher education in India is 25%. In Meghalaya it is double the national average. If these numbers are pegged on to school dropouts, the percentage of youth completing a bachelor’s education in our state is barely around eight percent. This is not just alarming but a pathway to disaster.
China has the lowest dropout rate from higher education in the world, less than one percent. More than 75% of its youth are enrolled in higher education. India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 targets a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50% in higher education by 2035. According to the Report, the GER in Meghalaya is 16%, about half of the present GER in India. To achieve the NEP target, Meghalaya will have to triple the number of college students by 2035, hardly a decade from now. Are we building this capacity? As of now, we do not produce even enough science teachers for our schools.
The dilemma starts from school
The school system in Meghalaya produces mainly arts students. In the 2025 Meghalaya HSSLC exams, the arts stream had the highest number of students with 22,835, making up approximately 78% of the total. The science stream had 3,922 students, which is about 13%, and the commerce stream had 2,501 students, or roughly 9%.
What this tells us is that the preponderance of arts students from school spills over into higher education, thus accounting for the high percentage of arts students in NEHU. There are not many +2 pass students who are eligible for admission to science degrees.
According to a government study the preference for science among high school students is most visible in the southern states: Andhra Pradesh (76 per cent), Telangana (65 per cent), Tamil Nadu (62 per cent), and Kerala (45 per cent) for the academic year 2021–2022. In Tamil Nadu, 35% take commerce and only two percent choose arts. In Manipur, 69 per cent of students who took the Class XII board exams opted for science.
According to Business Standard, officials from the Ministry of Education assert that despite the study including only preferences from the class of 2022, the data is indicative of long-term trends. The commerce stream has an average national enrolment of 14 percent of higher secondary school students. But in the southern states the preference for commerce is significantly higher, about double the national average. In these high-performing states, arts students made up only about 2 per cent of the 2022 board examination population, compared to 78% in Meghalaya. This single statistic holds the key to the skewed education situation in our state.
The forward effects of the preference for science in the southern states are seen, for example, in the JEE scores for admission to the IITs. Telangana had the most students who scored a perfect score in JEE Main 2023, followed by Andhra Pradesh.
The solution
The first strategy is to increase the number of students taking science in Meghalaya. This will need more science teachers and a science lab in every higher secondary school. But there is a solution for the time being: the University Grants Commission recently issued a circular indicating that arts and commerce students can opt for science degrees. What will be needed is that colleges and universities in the state provide foundation and bridge courses in science for arts students who have taken admission in BSc degree programs.
We need to introduce more science and skill-based courses aligned with labour market needs. About a quarter of US students study in community colleges which offer job-oriented courses. If they wish to pursue a degree in a university, they are given credit for the community college diploma.
If our state is going to triple its higher education capacity in the next decade, the private sector should be expanded. The private universities in the state offer more applied and skill-based degrees than NEHU. Traditionally, US higher education has been a mixed sector. About half (46 percent) of college students study in state universities, 28 per cent in private universities and 26 percent in community colleges, public and private. There is a robust education loan system for university students in the US. About 70% of students take these loans.
Finally, we need to conduct extensive surveys of the main stakeholders, the students. Their opinions, aspirations and career preferences need to be documented for good planning.
