Bad news from Assam’s education sector: the state has fallen behind the national average in the availability of integrated science laboratories in secondary schools. This has come to light in the latest UDISE+ report for the year 2025-26 released recently by the Union Education Ministry. The report says only 46.6% of Assam’s secondary schools have integrated science laboratory facilities. This means more than half of Assam’s secondary level students do not have access to up-to-date science laboratories. Though the national average of 57.6% is also unsatisfactory, Assam’s position is even lower, at 11 percentage points below the country’s overall average. As has been highlighted in a front-page news story in the Sunday edition of this newspaper, Assam has 9,822 secondary schools, of which only 4,573 schools have integrated science laboratories. Though the situation in government schools is said to be better (3,244 out of 4,611 government schools have science labs), the condition of government-aided and private schools is said to be alarming. Difficult to believe, only nine out of 576 government-aided secondary schools (which is 1.6%) have science laboratories. As far as the 4,264 non-government or non-aided secondary schools are concerned, only 1,320 have science laboratories. This is a clear case of violating child rights, particularly the right to quality education. Taking a look at the scenario in other states, one finds that Odisha (80.7%), Chhattisgarh (79.9%), Tamil Nadu (79.0%), Punjab (76.4%), and Maharashtra (76.3%) have some of the highest science laboratory coverage in secondary schools. The failure of the concerned authorities – in this case, both the state education department and the managements of a large number of private schools – to provide science laboratories can be considered a kind of criminal offence in that hundreds and thousands of young children are being deprived – if not cheated – in the name of secondary education. This has happened at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly advocated for upgrading science education infrastructure at the secondary school level to foster a robust scientific temperament and curiosity among youth. Keeping in tune with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Prime Minister has been saying time and again that secondary schools across the country should not only be equipped with the best science laboratories but should also actively engage with their local communities, such as collaborating with nearby farmers for soil testing. As the Prime Minister has often said, it is only through such an approach that the country will be able to blend theoretical science with practical, real-world utility.