Nepal

Basic Data
Official Country Name:	Kingdom of Nepal
Region:	East & South Asia
Population:	24,702,119
Language(s):	Nepali
Literacy Rate:	27.5%
Number of Primary Schools:	22,218
Compulsory Schooling:	5 years
Public Expenditure on Education:	3.2%
Educational Enrollment:	Primary: 3,447,607
	Secondary: 1,121,335
	Higher: 105,694
Educational Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 113%
	Secondary: 42%
	Higher: 5%
Teachers:	Primary: 89,378
	Secondary: 36,127
Student-Teacher Ratio:	Primary: 39:1
Female Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 96%
	Secondary: 33%

History & Background

Nepal is a small landlocked South Asian country of 140,800 square kilometers located between China and Himalayan ranges in the north, and India and the plains of the river Ganges in the south. The country contains 8 of the world's 10 highest peaks with 85 percent of the country being mountainous. The country is organized into 5 development regions consisting of 14 anchals (zones) with 75 districts and 3,995 village development committees (VDCs). Nepal is the only official Hindu country in the world with more than 90 percent of its population following the Hindu religion. In the year 2000, Nepal was a densely populated country with a population of about 25 million people with 41 percent 14 years or younger. The population growth rate was 2.3 percent with a life expectancy of about 58 years. Nepal continues to be among the poorest countries in the world with nearly half of its population living under the poverty line. More than 80 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture that accounts for 41 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Only 17 percent of the country is arable; therefore, the majority of the rural people are engaged in subsistence farming or below subsistence farming. In 1999, Nepal had an outstanding debt of close to 3 billion U.S. dollars in foreign loans.

The modern history of Nepal can be traced to the eighteenth century when the Gurkha Shah family assumed power and established its capital in Kathmandu. In the nineteenth century, the Ranas, who were ministers to the kings, assumed real power, and the Shahs became puppet rulers. In 1860, the British government assumed a guiding rule in Nepal and heavily recruited the famous Gurkha units into the British army that assisted the British in suppressing Indian revolts (1857-1959), World War I (1914-1918), and World War II (1939-1945).

The Rana-British autocracy ended in 1951, when Maharaja Mohan Shamsher Rana was removed from power and the Nepali Congress Party (NCP) formed a government headed by Matrika Prasad Koirala. However, the political parties, in the 1950s, were not very effective, and King Mahendra, crowned in 1955, seized complete control of the government in 1960. He declared a new constitution in 1962 that banned political parties and allowed monarchy through a nonparty system of panchayats (village councils). In the 1970s, after Mahendra's death, his son, Birendra Bir Bikram, became the king who initially continued with repression of the democratic movement. However, he finally gave way, which led to the 1980 referendum and then the new constitution with the adoption of the multiparty system in 1990. In 1991, Girija Prasad Koirala became the first elected Prime Minister with the titular chief of state being the King. The 1990s witnessed problems in the parliamentary democratization of the nation: political instability, several governmental topples and changes, governmental corruption allegations, public demonstrations, coalition formations, and frequent elections. Since March 2000, Girija Prasad Koirala of NCP has once again become the Prime Minister.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Sanskrit was the main field of teaching and learning. Pradhan Pathshala (Sanskrit primary schools) were established in Dang, Dingla, Janakpur, and Kathmandu. Graduates from these schools used to travel to universities at Darbhanga and Kashi in India to complete further studies in Uttar Madhyama (Intermediate), Shastri (Bachelor), and Acharaya (Master) levels.

Under the Rana-British rule, between 1846 and 1951, access to education was confined to the higher castes and wealthier economic stratum of the population; the Ranas were opposed to giving education to the masses. They chose to educate their own children through English tutors. In 1854, Rana Jung Bahadur opened the Durbar School in Kathmandu to serve the needs of the Rana family and other Nepalese elite. This preference established the supremacy of the English education over the traditional Sanskrit-based education, a trend that has since continued. The School Leaving Certificate (SLC or grade 10) examination for Durbar School used to be conducted by the University of Calcutta, India until 1934 when the Nepal SLC examination board was founded. In the early 1950s, the average literacy rate was 5 percent. Literacy among males was 10 percent, while female literacy was 1 percent. Only 1 child out of 100 children attended school.

Since the democratization of Nepal, the country is committed to universal education and is slowly moving toward achieving that goal. In 1990, Nepal launched a massive literacy campaign targeting 8 million people between the ages of 6 and 45 years of age. Since then education in grades 1-10 is also being offered "tuition free" throughout the country.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

Nepal is a parliamentary democracy, with the head of the government being the Prime Minister and the nominal chief of state being the King. The legislative branch of the government consists of a bicameral Parliament. The lower branch of the Parliament is the House of Representatives that has 205 seats with members elected by popular vote to serve 5-year terms. The upper branch of the Parliament is the National Council that has 60 seats of which 35 are appointed by the House of Representatives, 10 by the King, and 15 are elected by an electoral college with a 6-year term with one-third being elected every 2 years. The Supreme Court heads the judicial branch of the Government, with the chief justice being appointed by the monarch upon the recommendation of the Constitutional Council.

Nepal is a signatory to the policy of Education for All (in 1990 at Jomtien, Thailand) and the Convention of the Rights of the Child (in 1991 at New Delhi, India) and is committed to free and universal education. Since 1951, the government has constituted education commissions at periodic intervals to develop basic policy guidelines. Subsequently, the cabinet decisions and parliament acts have included these policy guidelines into five-year national plans. The Eighth Five-Year Plan concluded in June 1997. In the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002), since the country continued to struggle with poverty, the primary national development objectives are focused on poverty alleviation and the chosen strategy for accomplishing these objectives is through education. The Ninth Five-Year Plan describes educational priorities that include improving school facilities, enhancing teacher training, and expanding secondary, vocational, and technical institutions. The Ninth Five-Year Plan also emphasizes enhancement of the quality of general education, female participation in education, and access to education for disabled and socially disadvantaged communities. The Ninth Five-Year Plan envisages a growth of the net primary school enrollment to 90 percent by the end of its period in 2002 and 100 percent by the end of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan in 2017.

Educational System—Overview

Since 1951, the country established an education system with free primary education to all children. In 2000, while the education was not compulsory throughout Nepal, the country was committed to providing free universal education from grades 1-10. Under the Ninth Five-Year Plan, compulsory primary education was implemented in five districts of Chitwan, Ilam, Surkhet, Syangja, and Kanchanpur with the policy of extending free compulsory primary education all over the country gradually.

Despite these strong commitments, in 2000, various estimates of literacy in Nepal placed the rates between 23 and 41 percent of the adult population with a large gap between male and female rates. The Central Bureau of Statistics has been collecting literacy statistics since the first census in 1952-1954. For the censuses in 1952-1954, 1961, and 1971, literacy was defined as the ability to read and write in any language. For the census in 1981, the definition was expanded as the ability to read and write in any language with understanding. For the census in 1991, the definition was further expanded to add performance of simple arithmetic calculations. However, no functional testing was done in collecting the data that is estimated to be inflated by 10 to 25 percent. In 1996, the literacy rates in the eastern development region were 54.20 percent for males and 29.57 percent for females; in the central region, 50.19 percent for males and 20.75 percent for females; in the western region, 58.24 percent for males and 32.82 percent for females; in the mid-west region, 46.94 percent for males and 17.60 percent for females; and in the far west region, 48.98 percent for males and 14.85 percent for females. These statistics point at the dismal situation of female literacy rates in Nepal, which are among the lowest in the world. The literacy rates also vary according to ethnic grouping. The economically advantaged high caste ethnic groups like Marwari, Kayastha, Brahmin, Thakali, and Newari have literacy rates between 60 and 95 percent. While lower castes such as Dhobhi, Dusadh, and Chamar have rates below 25 percent.

Primary education (grades one to five) typically begins at the age of 6 years and lasts until the age of 10 years. The second official level of education is the lower secondary level, which comprises grades 6-8 (three years). The secondary level is comprised of grades 9 and 10 (two years). The School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations are held nationally at the end of grade 10. Since 1992, the higher secondary level of grades 11 and 12 has also been initiated primarily through private schools. The academic year typically starts in Srawan (July-August) when the government's financial year starts. The Nepali calendar year is based on Bikrami Samwat (BS), which is different from the English calendar. For example the year 2001 A.D. was 2057 BS until March 2001 and then changed to 2058 BS in mid March. There is some pressure to start the school year in Baisakh (April-May) to allow the tenth grade students to have one complete year before their SLC examinations. Education in grades 1-10 is free in Nepal and available to all. In 1996, the school system in Nepal had an overall enrollment of over 4 million students of which 77 percent were primary students, 17 percent were lower secondary students, and 6 percent were secondary students. The language of instruction in public schools is in Nepali, which is the mother tongue of slightly over one-half of the population.

Nepal has a dualistic system of schools with both public and private schools. Education in private schools is expensive and typically affordable only by the elite. Most private schools have English as the language of instruction, and many also utilize computers in the curricula. In 1995, there were 3,077 private primary schools, 2,417 private lower secondary schools, 1,370 private secondary schools, 332 private higher secondary schools, and 132 private tertiary schools. At the lower secondary and secondary levels the numbers were proportional to the public schools.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Until 1992, there was no official preprimary level of schooling and the very few private nursery schools that existed were mainly in the urban areas. Under the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-1997), Ministry of Education introduced a total of 781 Shishu Kakshyas (nurseries) in 40 districts. The Ninth Five-Year Plan has a lofty goal to increase the number of Shishu Kakshyas to 10,000 by the end of 2002.

Primary education typically starts in the first grade with the minimum age of entry being six years. Completion of primary level ordinarily requires five years of schooling. However, entry at minimum age and five of years of schooling are not mandatory requirements to complete primary school. Children who could not attend primary school at the age of six years can enter into the third grade through completion of a nine-month course of a nonformal primary education program, popularly known as Shiksha Sadan or OSP (out-of-school program). The Nepalese government has formulated this plan under the "Basic and Primary Education Project" (BPEP) and given it the top priority in its Education Policy as a means to reach girls and other disadvantaged children. In 1996, there were a total of 21,473 primary schools with an enrollment of over 3 million primary students and 82,645 primary school teachers. In 2000, the enrollment in grade one was almost universal for boys, but only 84 percent girls were enrolled. The enrollment starts to decline in later years of primary school, many repeat each grade, and the completion rates of primary school remain dismal. Almost 63 percent of the students enrolled in first grade drop out during primary education. Only about 37 percent complete their primary education between the ages of 5 and 13 years. Only 10 percent of children who are enrolled in first grade are expected to complete primary school without repeating any grade. The reasons for high dropout and repetition rates include the workload of household chores, particularly on girls; irregularity of school functioning; poverty; physical distance; low perceived relevance of education to daily work and social lives; caste and ethnic discrimination; neglect of mother tongue for many communities; and under-aged children, particularly in the first grade.

Secondary Education

The second official level of education is the lower secondary level that typically begins at age 10 in the sixth grade and lasts through the eighth grade. Earlier, between 1951 and 1971, this was known as the middle level and consisted of sixth and seventh grades. The National Education Commission in 1992 defined the objective of the lower secondary level as "preparing morally and ethically upright citizens possessed of an appropriate level of knowledge in subject matters such as Nepali language, mathematics, and science." In 1996, the total number of lower secondary schools in Nepal was 5,041 with 726,300 students and 16,821 teachers. In 1996, only 26 percent of all children aged 11-13 were enrolled at the lower secondary level with the enrollment of girls being a little less than 19 percent. In 1996, the promotion rates at this level were fairly good with over three-fourths being promoted to next level each year. Repetition rates were below 20 percent at all the three grade levels and dropout rates were below 12 percent.

Until 1992, the secondary level, comprised of the grades 9 and 10, was the final level of schooling in Nepal. The secondary school enrollment in 1996 was 290,143 with 2,654 schools and 14,585 teachers. At the end of grade 10, a national level SLC examination is conducted by the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) based at Sano Thimi. The net enrollment rate in secondary school in 1996 was a little over 17 percent. This implied that among all 14- and 15-year-old children only about one-sixth enjoyed the privilege of education.

Since 1992, Nepal has started the higher secondary school education system consisting of the grades eleventh and twelfth. The Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) conducts the national examinations. The higher secondary level is available in specialized areas such as science, management, humanities, and education. The system is based on the system prevalent in India and is popularly known as the ten-plus-two system. In 2000, there were 657 higher secondary education institutions, a large number of which were based in relatively affluent urban areas and were managed by the private sector. The National Education Commission (NEC) had recommended the opening of such institutions in remote and rural areas and focusing on five areas of general, professional, technical, polytechnic, and Sanskrit education. However, these recommendations remained largely elusive as late as 2001. In 2000, there were 42,000 students enrolled at the plus-two level.

In the 1950s, vocational training was introduced in the lower secondary classes, and it was described as prevocational education. At the secondary level, almost 25 percent of the curriculum consisted of vocational training. In addition, a vocational branch was also introduced to facilitate secondary school graduates to directly enter into the job market after SLC. The vocational subjects included agriculture, agronomy, horticulture, poultry, animal husbandry, dairy science, fishery, industrial electrical installation, furniture and metal work, building construction, and bamboo work. In the early 1980s, vocational education in secondary schools began to be curtailed and secondary schools were no longer viewed as terminal institutions for vocational training. In 2000, vocational instruction through secondary schools was treated as one subject with a weight of about 14 percent and minimal emphasis on skill acquisition.

Since the 1980s, the government has established technical schools in different regions of the country. Initially there were seven such technical schools, six in the public sector and one in the private sector. The courses offered at these schools were at the lower secondary (those who have completed grade one through five and are above 15 years of age) and secondary levels (those who have completed seventh grade and are over 15 years of age). The courses offered were for three years duration, followed by one year of on-the-job training. The six public sector schools were: a mechanical training center at Kathmandu that focused on general mechanics, electrician, and sanitary fitting; a technical school at Jumia that focused on building construction, health, and agriculture; and a uttarpani technical school at Dhankuta that focused on agriculture. There was also a technical school at Jiri that focused on agriculture, building construction, and health; a technical school at Lahan that focused on agriculture and building construction; and a technical school at Sano Thimi that focused on motor mechanics, general mechanics, general fitting, agriculture, cutting, and tailoring.

Since 1990s, the technical education at the secondary level became the responsibility of the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). International assistance further strengthened the infrastructure in nine technical schools and a tenth grade SLC diploma was required to enroll in these schools. In 1998, stipends were being paid at seven of these schools that ranged between NR 300 and 475 per month. In addition, the CTEVT also has trade schools and 118 private technical training institutes. The trade schools offer courses of as short as one year, and as long as two and a half years. The trade and affiliated technical schools also conduct skill-oriented short-term training courses and these last between two and eight weeks. Besides the Ministry of Education and NGOs, other ministries such as labor, women and social welfare, industries, tourism, communications, and water resources also provide vocational training in related sectors.

Higher Education

Prior to the ten-plus-two (or the higher secondary education) system, students would continue their studies at the Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) at the Tribhuvan University in Nepal and its affiliated colleges after passing the SLC examination. The PCL program is still being run in 2001, but is slated to be phased out because all students were going through the ten-plus-two system of post secondary education.

The first institution of higher education to be established in Nepal was the Tribhuvan Chandra Intermediate College (later renamed Tri-Chandra College) in 1918. The Rana Prime Minister, Chandra Shamsher, was opposed to higher education and saw it as a threat to monarchy. Nonetheless, he yielded to the growing pressure from Nepalese people in the formation of this college and remarked at its inauguration, "With the opening of this college, I have hacked my own leg." The establishment of Tri-Chandra College paved way for higher education in Nepal. Gradually more colleges were built. Two of the reputable colleges were Nepal National College, also known as Shanker Dev Campus, in Kathmandu and Thakur Ram College in Birgunj.

Tribhuvan University was Nepal's first university and was established in 1959. The Queen mother, Kanti Rajyalaxmi Devi Shah, was the first Chancellor of the university. The Academic Council is the supreme academic body of the university and the Board of Studies designs the curricula. Initially, postgraduate courses were offered in some humanities and social sciences and were based on the curricula of Patna University in India that also conducted examinations until 1962. In 1991, only 1.73 percent of the population had acquired a bachelor's degree of which only 0.44 percent were women and 1.29 percent were men.

On December 11, 1991, Kathmandu University was established as a private university. In 1993, the School of Management was established at its campus in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta (IIMC) and the first batch of Master of Business Administration (MBA) students were enrolled. The school of Engineering and School of Science opened in 1994 and offered several undergraduate programs. The School of Education and Arts was established in 1996. In 1997, the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) were launched.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Mahendra Sanskrit University, Purbanchal University, Siddhartha University, and Pokhra University were also established. Many of these are private ventures. In 1998, Tribhuvan University was the largest university with 150,000 students and 62 constituent and 132 affiliated campuses. The costs of tertiary education are very low at Tribhuvan University, while they are very high at the private Kathmandu University.

The Bachelor's level of university education after grade 12 is a three-year duration with yearly examinations. The Bachelor's Degree courses in technical institutes like Engineering and Medicine take four years to complete. The Master's Degree follows the Bachelor's Degree and takes two years with yearly examinations. In the technical arena, only the Institute of Science and Technology and, in some selected fields, the Institute of Engineering offers Master's level programs. The university education also includes a Doctor of Philosophy degree in some disciplines and subject areas.

At the tertiary level, in the 1960s, all programs of vocational education were brought under the umbrella of Tribhuvan University and five technical institutes were formed. They initially offered programs at the PCL level. These institutes were: the Institute of Engineering that focused on civil engineering related training such as road building, drafting, surveying, electrical engineering related training, and mechanical engineering related training; the Institute of Medicine that focused on Ayurvedic related training, nursing, and laboratory technician courses; the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science; the Institute of Forestry; and the Institute of Applied Science and Technology. The Institute of Applied Science and Technology has since been turned into a research center. The other four institutes that started their programs at certificate level now offer Diploma (Bachelor of Technology) and Degree (Master of Technology) and are gradually moving toward autonomous status.

Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

In 2001, the Ministry of Education and Sports (previously known as Ministry of Education and Culture) was the governmental division looking after the education sector. A Minister of the Cabinet Rank heads the Ministry. On April 11, 2000, the Minister was Tarani Dutta Chataut. In the Ministry, the Department of Education (DOE) at Keshar Mahal, headed by a Director General, formulates the medium term and annual policies, plans, objectives, and targets in the education sector. Public or government-aided schools are managed by School Management Committees (SMCs), according to education regulations of the DOE. The composition of SMCs, academic content, textbooks, and examination systems are uniform throughout the country. The primary source of revenue for schools is governmental grants, which are based on the number of the students in each school.

The teachers, including the headmasters, are appointed by the DOE. The District Education Committee (DEC), which is nominated by DOE, nominates the SMCs. The government District Education Office, within the DEC, is headed by a District Education Officer. This is the most influential unit and designates tasks for each school to implement. Each of the 75 districts has a District Education Officer. The DEC sets the school calendar, provides teacher salaries, organizes teachers training programs, carries out inspections, and audits the school accounts. The autonomy of teachers in changing the educational procedures is often cited as a reason for limited operation of the schools, low academic quality, lack of accountability, and lack of local participation. The technical and vocational schools of the CTEVT are also managed on a similar basis by SMCs.

The universities are managed by Senate Council consisting of the Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, Rector, Registrar, and senate members representing various academic, economic, political, private, social, and student groups. The university senate is the apex body and is responsible for making policy decisions. The University Grants Commission (UGC) assists the government in managing the fiscal aspects and funding policies. The UGC also coordinates and disburses financial grants to the universities.

From 1975-1990, Nepal spent about 10 percent of its annual budget on education and raised it to 13 percent in the Eighth Five-Year Plan during 1992-1997. As a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this spending ranged between 1.3 percent and 2.0 percent between 1975 and 1990. The government, in its Eighth Five-Year Plan, spent 2.6 percent of its GDP on education. In 1997, the foreign aid in the education sector accounted for 52 percent of the total budget. The large amount of financial dependence on foreign donors undermines self-sustenance, increases foreign debt with heavy interest repayments, and also leads to pursuance of donor-driven agendas. A report prepared for the Ministry by the Danish University in 2000 found that 71 percent of the suggestions from the donor agencies were ratified by the government, as opposed to only 31 percent of the suggestions by the Parliamentarians.

In 1995, per capita expenditure by the government on primary education in public schools was NR 970.30, which was about half of what was being spent in private schools. Further the household expenditure on education for a child attending was NR 362.16, while the expenditure on education for a private school was NR 4,699.08. The disproportionate expenditures partly account for differences in the quality of private and public education.

The major portion of government expenditure for school education is spent on teacher and staff salaries and fringe benefits. A study done by Center for Educational Research, Innovation, and Development (CERID) in 1996 found that in public primary schools the expenditure on teacher and staff salaries was 86 percent, as compared to 63 percent in private primary schools. Likewise, in public secondary schools this expenditure on salaries was 76 percent in public sector, while only 52 percent in the private sector.

Two major problems facing the financing of the educational system in Nepal are inadequate resources and low administrative efficiency. Inadequate resources affect the physical facilities, teachers, and equipment. The physical infrastructure in the schools is often inadequate. Communities are mainly responsible for building the physical facilities that are often in dilapidated conditions due to a deficiency of funds. The government provides the salary of teachers. There is a scarcity of trained teachers and the cost of continuing teacher training is also primarily the responsibility of the government. Therefore, upgrading the skills of the teachers is a constant struggle. The teaching-learning materials are usually deficient. The government also tries to provide materials for science education in secondary schools, but often these are not adequate. The government has made a commitment to provide education up to grade 10 without tuition fees. This has forced many schools to charge students "non-tuition" fees to sustain their programs; this nullifies the government's intention to provide free education. The government also supports higher education, and the student's fees are minimal. This adds to the burden on governmental resources. Tribhuvan University was able to generate only 9 percent of its budget from outside resources and depended on the government for the large bulk of its funding.

The apex institution for conducting educational research in Nepal is the Center for Educational Research, Innovation, and Development (CERID), which is affiliated with Tribhuvan University. CERID is headed by an Executive director and has completed several educational research projects, including collaborations with several foreign institutions.

Nonformal Education

Nonformal education in Nepal began in 1951 when activities for literacy enhancement began as part of the national development. These efforts were regularized in the First Five-Year Plan (1956-1961). With the increasing foreign aid through international organizations and subsequent mushrooming of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) between the 1970s and 1990s, the nonformal education movement has picked up momentum. In 1997, there were about 6,000 registered NGOs that were working in the area of education.

In 1974, CERID launched a community-based education program, "Education for Rural Development," in Lahachauk. The program tested and compared the efficacy of a uni-message literacy program with multi-message functional literacy programs. This pilot project paved the way for the national functional literacy program in 1978, which was funded by the Ministry of Education.

In 1981, in the four districts of the Seti anchal, the Chelibeti program focusing on the education of female children was developed. The Ministry of Education launched the Primary Education Project (PEP) in 1984 with a loan from World Bank. By 1987, this program included nonformal education components such as Shiksha Sadan (out-of-school programs), women's education programs, adult education programs, school environment improvement programs, and a community reading center.

Between 1991 and 1996, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) assisted CERID in training and supporting literacy providers through higher education institutions in United States. In addition, USAID funded World Education/Nepal project aimed at improving women's literacy.

In 1990, at the governmental level, the National Education Commission was formed to strengthen the nonformal education sector. Subsequently, the National Non-Formal Education Council was also formed.

Distance education in Nepal employs a radio broadcast approach and is used mainly to support teachertraining activities. The Institute of Education affiliated to Tribhuvan University started a distance-learning program in 1976. This was discontinued in 1980 and replaced with the Radio Education Teacher Training (RETT) Project that offers a basic teacher training primary education certificate/diploma course in Nepali language. In 1998, there were 1,800 students enrolled in this course.

Teaching Profession

In 1996 there were a total of 114,051 teachers in the public sector; 82,645 were primary level teachers, 16,281 were lower secondary level teachers, and 14,585 were secondary level teachers. The teachers at the primary level must complete proficiency certificate level (PCL) in education, and a two-year program offered from Tribhuvan University or its equivalent. The courses taught include English language education, Nepali language education, mathematics education, science education, health and physical education, population education, history education, geography education, economics education, political science education, and vocational education. Teachers at the lower secondary and secondary level must complete a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), which is a three-year program with one additional year of practical training. The program covers, in addition to the subjects of PCL, educational management, primary education, nonformal education, educational technology, early childhood education, special education, educational planning, and curriculum evaluation. For administrative positions, completion of a Master of Education (M.Ed.) is usually required. The National Center for Education Development (NCED) provides in-service training for primary school teachers through its nine primary training centers. Some private teacher training centers affiliated to NCED conduct pre-service teacher training. The salaries for teachers in the public primary schools in 2000 were between NR 4,000 to 6,000 per month, and for secondary teachers, between NR 5,000 to 10,000 per month.

Several groups and unions of teachers have emerged over the past few decades. These groups have held close alliance with political parties. Two major teachers associations are the National Teachers Organization (NTO), affiliated with Communist Party of Nepal/United Marxist-Leninist (CPN/UNL), and the Nepal Teachers Association (NTA), affiliated with Nepali Congress Party (NCP). In addition there are smaller associations affiliated with the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the Nepal Sadbhavna Party (NSP).

Summary

Education is vital to human development, and Nepal recognizes this fact and is committed to making education universal. Despite the fact that substantial progress has been made in this direction, much still remains to be done. The country is still caught in the vicious cycle of poverty, lethargy of illiteracy, and tradition. Three-fifths of the country is still illiterate, with three-fourths of women being illiterate. In the 1990s, the country clearly moved toward democratization; however, the unstable governments and tenuous leadership have not yet yielded clear benefits for the masses. The education system is plagued by a lack of financial support, deficiency of trained human resources, inadequate physical infrastructure, and managerial inefficiency. As a consequence, the country is heavily dependent on foreign aid. Self-reliance in the education sector seems to be elusive with more than half of the funding coming from foreign donors. The international influence continues to shape the priorities for the country, while at the same time increasing the burden of debt. Efforts to broaden taxation, making the revenue administration more effective and efficient, and increasing taxation on private school incomes might be some measures that could be taken to boost local funding of education.

Universal access to literacy and primary education is emphasized in policy statements and political manifestos. However, the literacy and primary education efforts are confronted with barriers such as poverty, dropouts, burden of work on children, irregularity of school operation, physical distance to schools, low perceived importance of education by masses, caste and ethnic discriminations, centralized curricula, differential dialects and languages, and failure of local planning. The curricula are centralized with governmental control that does not allow teachers and local communities to take ownership of education. Political will and sustained efforts at addressing the barriers will assist in achieving this goal.

The secondary education system suffers from poor net enrollment ratios, lack of infrastructure, inadequate equipment, poor quality of education, lack of trained teachers, and financial constraints. The higher secondary level in Nepal is in its infancy stages and is completely in private hands for its implementation. Therefore it is confined mainly in the urban areas and to the sections of population that can afford it. More efforts are needed to extend its reach into remote and rural areas.

Finally, the philosophical direction of Nepalese education is being shaped rather blindly on borrowed models primarily from the West. Nepal has failed to build on its rich heritage of Sanskrit-based education that emphasized the importance of experiential learning. The experiential learning concepts have somehow been lost and education from books that emphasize rote memorization has gained eminence. The situation has been further compounded by blind emphasis on the English education system and failure to incorporate problem-based, analytical approaches inherent in the Western models. As a result, the quality of education has left much to be desired. There is vast scope for improving the quality, a challenge that Nepalese educators and planners must accept.

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—Manoj Sharma