The Department of School Education deals with Primary, Elementary, Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in the state. The Department was established in the year 1964 and was named as Department of Education initially, but is now re-named as School Education after Higher & Technical Education, Youth Resources and SCERT that were under the umbrella of Education Department got bifurcated as full-fledged Directorates.
As per the 1961 Census, the literacy rate of the state was only 14 percent. And the number of government educational institution was 519 at the Secondary level. But after the statehood and as per 2011 census enumeration the literacy rate has grown to 80.11 percent which is higher than the National Average. Today, the department is responsible for management and administration of 2071 Govt. Schools which are classified as:
- Higher Secondary School – 41
- High School – 253
- Middle School – 626
- Primary School – 1150
- Hindi Training Institute – 1
The department is supplemented by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) under the Nagaland Education Mission Society. Through these central schemes the department is benefited in the area of:
- Academic Support
- Infrastructural development &
- Teaching manpower
In addition, the department also implements centrally sponsored flagship programmes and schemes:
- Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDM)
- Saakshar Bharat
- Pre-Matric Scholarship
The department exercises administrative control at the district level through District Education Officers (DEO) and Sub-Divisional Education Officers (SDEO) at the block level.
