As has been the trend for years now in Nagaland, girls have once again outperformed boys in the recent High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) examinations; and private educational institutions are way ahead of government schools in terms of performance in the exams. These are on expected lines. What really caught everyone’s attention is the noticeable improvement of government schools this year with 49.13% pass percentage in the matriculation exam, the highest recorded since 2018 and nearly 9% spike from last year’s 36.62%. This is an encouraging development, perhaps an outcome of collective efforts from the concerned department, school administrations and civil society organisations to revitalise it. In the meantime, the huge disparity in the performance of government schools between the urban and interior areas is a matter of concern. While government schools in districts like Kohima and Mokokchung recorded above 70% success rate in the HSLC exam, as many as six districts registered a pass percentage of below 35%. But that’s not the case among private institutions across the state with all districts registering above 70% pass percentage. Noklak leads the pack at 97% against 22% success rate of government schools, while private...