Education in Nepal

Education in Nepal¹

Ministry of Education
Minister of Education	Ram Chandra Kushwaha
National education budget (2006)
Budget	$98.64 million
General Details
Primary Languages	Nepalese
System Type	Central
Establishment Enacted Last amended	Education Act August 9, 1971 January 28, 2004
Literacy (2001)
Total	53.7
Male	56.3
Female	54.7
Enrollment
Total	6,373,003
Primary	4,030,045
Secondary	2,195,8352
Post Secondary	147,123
Attainment
Secondary diploma	46.2%
Post-secondary diploma	unavailable
1Source of information: Ministry of Education website 2Includes, "Lower secondary", "secondary", and "higher secondary"

Modern education in Nepal began with the establishment of the first school in 1853; this school was only for the members of the ruling families and their courtiers. Schooling for the general people began only after 1951 when a popular movement ended the autocratic Rana family regime and initiated a democratic system. In the past 50 years, there has been a dramatic expansion of education facilities in the country. As a result, adult literacy (age 15+) of the country was reported to be 48.2% (female: 34.6%, male: 62.2%) in the Population Census, 2001, up from about 5% in 1952–54. Beginning from about 300 schools and two colleges with about 10,000 students in 1951, there now are 49,000 schools (including higher secondary), 415 colleges, five universities, and two academies of higher studies. Altogether 7.2 million students are enrolled in those schools and colleges who are served by more than 222,000 teachers.

Despite such examples of success, there are problems and challenges. Education management, quality, relevance, and access are some of the critical issues of education in Nepal. Societal disparities based on gender, ethnicity, location, economic class, etc. are yet to be eliminated. Resource crunch has always been a problem in education. These problems have made the goal of education for all a challenge for the country.

Administration

School children in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Ministry of Education is the apex body responsible for initiating and managing education activities in the country. The Minister of Education, assisted by the State/Assistant Minister, provides political leadership to the Ministry. The Ministry, as a part of the government bureaucracy, is headed by the Secretary of Education and consists of the central office, various functional offices, and offices located at the regional and district levels. The Central Office or the Ministry is mainly responsible for policy development, planning and monitoring, and evaluation regarding different aspects of education.

With a purpose of bringing education administration nearer to the people, the Ministry has established five Regional Directorates and 75 District Education Offices in five development regions and 75 districts respectively. These decentralized offices are responsible for overseeing nonformal and school-level education activities in their respective areas. Regional Directorates are mainly responsible for coordinating and monitoring and evaluation of education activities and the District Education Offices are the main implementing agencies.

NCED^{[citation needed]} is an apex body for teacher training in Nepal. There are 34 Educational Training Centers (ETCs) under NCED to support the teachers in pedagogical areas. ETC Sunsari, ETC Dhulikhel and ETC Tanahun/Educational Training Center Damauli are the leading training centers under NCED. NCED was established in B. S. 2050 but it could not take speed much until Arjun Bahadur Bhandari was appointed as an Executive Director. Now it is running full-fledged and implementing "Teacher Education Project" to train the pre-service and in-service teachers throughout the country.^{[unreliable source?]}

Structure

Nepalese teacher and schoolchildren in Pokhara

Education in Nepal is structured as school education and higher education. School education includes primary level of grades 1–5, lower secondary and secondary levels of grades 6–8 and 9–10 respectively. Pre-primary level of education is available in some areas. Six years old is the prescribed age for admission into grade one. A national level School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination is conducted at the end of grade 10.

Grades 11 and 12 are considered as higher secondary level. Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) supervises higher secondary schools which are mostly under private management. Previously these grades were under the university system and were run as proficiency certificate level. Though some universities still offer these programs, the policy now is to integrate these grades into the school system.

Higher education consists of bachelor, masters, and PhD levels. Depending upon the stream and subject, bachelors level may be of three to five years' duration. The duration of masters level is generally two years. Some universities offer programs like M Phil and post-graduate diplomas.

Legally, there are two types of school in the country: community and institutional. Community schools receive regular government grants whereas institutional schools are funded by school's own or other non-governmental sources. Institutional schools are organized either as a non-profit trust or as a company. However, in practical terms, schools are mainly of two types: public (community) and private (institutional).

A third type of school is the kind run by the local people enthusiastic toward having a school in their locality. They do not receive regular government grants and most of them do not have any other sustainable financial source. Supported and managed by the local people, they can be thus identified as the real community schools.

Except one, all universities/academies are publicly managed and are supported by public source fund. However, public universities also provide affiliation to private colleges. Two academies of higher education are single college institutes whereas other universities have constituent and affiliated colleges across the country.*

Years in schools, colleges and universities

1. Nursery
2. Lower Kindergarten (LKG)
3. Upper Kindergarten (UKG)
4. First Grade
5. Second Grade
6. Third Grade
7. Fourth Grade
8. Fifth Grade
9. Sixth Grade
10. Seventh Grade
11. Eighth Grade
12. Ninth Grade
13. Tenth Grade
14. SLC (School Leaving Certificate) (A test based on Tenth Grade study. To appear in SLC exam the student must complete pre-test exam of Tenth Grade based on SLC exam pattern.)
15. 10+2 (Intermediate Level) (two years)
16. Bachelors (three or four years)
17. Masters (two years)
18. Ph.D.

Medical Colleges in Nepal

Medical colleges in Nepal are spread over various parts of the country. Most of these medical colleges in Nepal are in the private sector, although there are some government medical colleges too. Admission of local students to these medical colleges in Nepal is done generally through an entrance test. However foreign students are admitted on the basis of their performance in a personal interview. In order to be eligible for admission to the MBBS courses of Nepal’s medical colleges, one needs to pass the higher secondary examination in science or its equivalent. Medical education in Nepal is regulated by the Medical Council of Nepal. Apart from giving recognition to the medical colleges in Nepal, it also conducts the licensing examination for providing registration to the new doctors. It is also responsible for making policies related to curriculum, admission, term and examination system of teaching institute of medical education and to make recommendation for cancellation of registration and approved by renewing and evaluating such system/procedure.

List of Medical Colleges

B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Website : www.bpkihs.edu

Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Maharajgunj Website : www.iom.edu.np

National Academy of Medical Sciences, Website : www.nams.org.np

Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Website : www.manipal.edu/mcoms

Janaki Medical College, Website : www.jmcedu.com.np

Kathmandu Medical College, Website : www.kmc.edu.np

Kathmandu University Medical School

Nepal Medical College (NMC), Website : www.nmcth.edu

National Medical College, Website : www.nmcbir.edu.np

Nepalgunj Medical College, Website : www.ngmc.edu.np

College of Medical Sciences, Universal College of Medical Sciences,

Paklihawa Campus, Bhairahawa, Lumbini Zone, Website : www.ucmsnepal.com

Ranking of Medical colleges of Nepal

On the basis of patient flow in the hospital, infrastructure, clinical exposures to the students, popularity among students, international reputation and various other criterias, following is the ranking of Medical colleges of Nepal:

1. Institute of Medicine (IOM), Kathmandu
2. BP Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS), Dharan
3. Kathmandu Medical College (KMC), Kathmandu
4. Manipal College of Medical Science and Technology, Pokhara
5. Patan Academy of Health Science (PAHS), Lalitpur
6. Nepal Medical College (NMC), Kathmandu
7. College of Medical Sciences (CoMS), Chitwan
8. Universal College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), Bhairawa
9. KIST Medical College, Kathmandu
10. Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS), Dhulikhel

Note: Only top tens are included.

Engineering Colleges in Nepal

There are quite a good number of engineering colleges in Nepal that provide engineering courses in various parts of the country. Most of these engineering Colleges in Nepal admit the local students through an entrance test. However foreign students are admitted on the basis of their performance in a personal interview. Candidates, to be eligible for admission to the engineering colleges in Nepal, should at least pass the Intermediate in Science or diploma in engineering or its equivalent.

Architecture, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electronics and Communication, Electrical and Electronics, Energy Engineering, Civil and Rural Engineering are some of the popular engineering courses in Nepal. While the B.E. Architecture courses are of 5 years duration, other bachelor degree courses are of 4 years duration. Some engineering colleges in Nepal also offer Masters degree courses. The Nepal Engineering College, for example, offers Master’s degree courses in Construction Management and Natural Resource Management.

On this page, we would be providing a list of engineering colleges in Nepal. This list would include both the private engineering colleges and government engineering colleges of Nepal. So far as we are concerned, the list is correct and updated. But if you come across any discrepancy, please do inform us. We would appreciate any such move that would improve the quality of the site.

List of Engineering Colleges

Acme Engineering College, Website : www.acme.edu.np

Asian College of Engineering & Management,

Himalaya College of Engineering, Website : www.hcoe.edu.np

Lumbini Engineering College,

Nepal Engineering College, Website : www.nec.edu.np

Pokhara Engineering College,

National Engineering College,

Everest Engineering College, Website : www.eec.edu.np

Institute of Engineering (IOE), Website : www.ioe.edu.np

Star Engineering College,

Dhangadhi Engineering College,

Janakpur Engineering College,

Kantipur Engineering College, Website : www.kec.edu.np

Kathmandu Institute of Technology,

Kathmandu Engineering College, Website : www.keckist.edu.np

Eastern College of Engineering,

Paschimanchal Engineering Campus,

College of Software Engineering,

Janakpur Engineering College,

Khwopa Engineering College, Website : www.khec.edu.np

List of universities in Nepal

This is a list of universities in Nepal. Prior to the establishment of the first college in the country, Tri-Chandra College in 1918, higher education in Nepal was nonexistent. Until 1985, Tribhuvan University had remained the one and the only university in Nepal. In the early 80s, His Majesty's Government developed the concept of a multi-university system for the country. One important assumption behind the concept was that each new university should have a distinctive nature, content and function of its own.

The first new university that was established was Mahendra Sanskrit University. The inception of this university was soon followed by Kathmandu University in 1990, Purbanchal and Pokhara Universities in 1995 and 1996 respectively. Many schools and colleges are run by private initiatives but none of the universities in Nepal are private.

B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences is the first and foremost Health and Medical University of Nepal, established in 1994 and upgraded to university in 1999.

Currently there are six universities in Nepal, and two institutions recognised as universities:

Tribhuvan University

Kathmandu University

Pokhara University

Purbanchal University

Mahendra Sanskrit University

Lumbini Bouddha University

Mid-Western University Birendranagar

Far-Western University Kanchanpur

Nepal Agriculture and Forestry University Rampur, Bharatpur

At present there are only five accredited universities operating in Nepal. Other four universities have been proposed for establishment but the government has not allocated the funds for universities and the issue has not been decided yet. Along with the four new universities, one more are supposed to be established in Nepalgunj.

External links

• Right To Education Foundation
• Primary School providing free education in rural Nepal
• Nepal Scholarships