Answer

Yes — in Jain Dharma, getting a human birth is considered very rare and very precious. But it is not that every soul must become human first before going to dev lok or narak. A soul can take birth in any of the four gatis according to its karma:

• Narak gati
• Tiryancha gati
• Manushya gati
• Dev gati

Explanation

After death, the soul does not follow one fixed order like:

human → dev → narak

Instead, the next birth depends on the karma bound by the soul.

So:

• A soul may be born directly in dev lok
• A soul may be born directly in narak
• A soul may be born directly as a human
• A soul may be born as a tiryancha also

Among these, human birth is especially valuable because in human life the soul gets the best chance for:

• self-control
• right understanding
• spiritual practice
• liberation

Spiritual Understanding

In Jainism, human birth is called rare because it gives the soul the greatest opportunity to progress spiritually. A dev life is full of enjoyment, and a narak life is full of suffering, so both are less favorable for liberation than human life.

That is why Jain teachings strongly emphasize:

• getting human birth
• attaining right faith
• using this birth wisely

Takeaway

So the simple answer is:

• Human birth is very rare and highly precious
• It is not a compulsory step before dev lok or narak
• The next birth is decided by karma, not by a fixed sequence

If you want, I can also explain this in very simple Jain cosmology terms.