Ssdp final draft --april 4, 2016

School Sector Development Plan
Nepal
FY 2016/17–2022/23
(BS 2073—2080)
Draft
Ministry of Education
Government of Nepal
March 2016
1

School Sector Development Plan (2016)
[MoE (2016). School Sector Development Plan, Nepal, 2016–2023.
Kathmandu: Ministry of Education, Government of Nepal.]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
POINT BY POINT TABULAR SUMMARY OF THE PLAN
i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND FOREWORD
ii

CONTENTS
School Sector Development Plan...............................................................................................1
Nepal.........................................................................................................................................1
FY 2016/17–2022/23.................................................................................................................1
(BS 2073—2080)........................................................................................................................1
Ministry of Education................................................................................................................1
Government of Nepal................................................................................................................1
March 2016...............................................................................................................................1
[MoE (2016). School Sector Development Plan, Nepal, 2016–2023. Kathmandu: Ministry of
Education, Government of Nepal.].............................................................................................ii
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................i
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................i
Acknowledgments and Foreword..............................................................................................ii
Acknowledgments and Foreword..............................................................................................ii
Contents...................................................................................................................................iii
Contents...................................................................................................................................iii
Abbreviations and Acronyms..................................................................................................viii
Abbreviations and Acronyms..................................................................................................viii
1 Background and Context.........................................................................................................1
1.1 Background....................................................................................................................1
1.2 Country Context............................................................................................................2
1.3 Key Issues and Challenges.............................................................................................6
1.4 Main achievements of the SSRP..................................................................................11
1.5 Decentralized Planning ...............................................................................................12
1.6 Opportunities..............................................................................................................13
2 Overall Vision, Objectives, Policy Directions and Strategies...................................................15
2.1 Vision 2022..................................................................................................................15
iii

2.2 Purpose.......................................................................................................................15
2.3 Goal.............................................................................................................................15
2.4 Objectives....................................................................................................................15
2.5 Policy Directions for SSDP............................................................................................16
2.6 Strategies.....................................................................................................................17
2.7 Links with Country Development Objectives...............................................................17
3 Programme Description.........................................................................................................19
3.1 Guiding Principles........................................................................................................19
3.2 Programme readiness..................................................................................................19
3.3 Methodology...............................................................................................................22
3.4 SSDP Key Performance Indicators...............................................................................22
4 Early Childhood Education and Development/Pre-Primary Education...................................24
4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................24
4.2 Goal and Objectives.....................................................................................................24
4.3 Policy directions..........................................................................................................24
4.4 Strategies.....................................................................................................................25
4.5 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries...............................................................................27
4.6 Key Performance Indicators........................................................................................27
4.7 Key Results..................................................................................................................27
5 Basic Education......................................................................................................................30
5.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................30
5.2 Goal and objectives.....................................................................................................32
5.4 Strategies.....................................................................................................................33
5.5 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries...............................................................................36
5.7 Key Results..................................................................................................................36
iv

6 Secondary Education.............................................................................................................39
6.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................39
6.2 Goal and objectives.....................................................................................................40
6.4 Strategies.....................................................................................................................41
6.5 Physical Targets/Beneficiaries.....................................................................................42
6.7 Key Results..................................................................................................................43
6B. Technical and Vocational Education Subject......................................................................49
6b.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................50
6b.2 Goals and Objectives................................................................................................50
6b. 3 Policy Directions......................................................................................................50
6b. 4 Strategies.................................................................................................................50
6B.5 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries............................................................................51
6b.6 Key Performance Indicators.....................................................................................51
6b.7 Key Results ...............................................................................................................51
7 non-formal education and Lifelong Learning.........................................................................53
6.8 Introduction.................................................................................................................53
6.9 Goal and Objectives.....................................................................................................53
6.10 Policy directions........................................................................................................53
6.11 Strategies...................................................................................................................54
6.12 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries.............................................................................54
6.13 Key Performance Indicators......................................................................................54
6.14 Key Results................................................................................................................55
7 Cross Cutting Priorities and Priorities....................................................................................57
7.1 Teacher Management and Professional Development................................................57
7.2 Governance and management....................................................................................62
v

7.3 Capacity Development................................................................................................65
7.4 Disaster Risk Reduction and School Safety..................................................................67
7.5 Monitoring, Evaluation and Assessment.....................................................................70
7.6 Examination and Accreditation...................................................................................73
7.7 International Economic Cooperation and Coordination..............................................74
8 Financing...............................................................................................................................78
8.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................78
8.2 Objectives....................................................................................................................78
8.4 Strategies.....................................................................................................................78
8.5 Education Expenditure................................................................................................79
8.6 Allocations within the education budget.....................................................................82
8.7 Funding modalities and flows......................................................................................83
8.8 Financial Management and reporting.........................................................................84
References...............................................................................................................................85
References...............................................................................................................................85
Annexes...................................................................................................................................88
Annexes...................................................................................................................................88
Annex 1: SSDP Logical Framework...........................................................................................89
Annex 1: SSDP Logical Framework...........................................................................................89
Annex 2: SSDP Result Framework............................................................................................93
Annex 2: SSDP Result Framework............................................................................................93
Annex 3: Growth Scenarios for Nepal’s Education Sector......................................................124
Annex 3: Growth Scenarios for Nepal’s Education Sector......................................................124
Annex 4: Sub sector/ thematic breakdown of SSDP budget cost............................................125
Annex 4: Sub sector/ thematic breakdown of SSDP budget cost............................................125
Annex 5: School Education Sector Institutions in Nepal.........................................................135
vi

Annex 5: School Education Sector Institutions in Nepal.........................................................135
vii

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ASIP Annual Strategic Implementation Plan
AWPB Annual Work Plan and Budget
BS Bikram Sambat (Nepali Calendar — official Nepali date system)
CAS Continuous Assessment System
CB-EGRA Classroom-based EGRA
CBO Community Based Organisation
CBS Central Bureau of Statistics
CDC Curriculum Development Centre
CLA Central Level Agencies
CLC Community Learning Centre
CPD Continuous Professional Development
CSO Civil Society Organisation
CSS-DRR Comprehensive School Safety and Disaster Risk Reduction
CSSP Community School Support Programme
CwD Children with Disabilities
DEO District Education Office
DoE Department of Education
DRM Disaster Risk Management
DRR Disaster Risk Reduction
ECCD Early Childhood Care and Development
ECD Early Childhood Development
ECDC Early Childhood Development Classes
ECED Early Childhood Education Development
EFA Education for All
EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment
ELDS Early Learning and Development Standards
EMIS Educational Management Information System
EOP End of Project
ERO Education Review Office
ESPIG Education Sector Program Implementation Grant (GPE)
ETC Education Training Centre
FCS Foreign Coordination Section
FMAP Financial Management Action Plan
FMR Financial Monitoring Report
FNCCI Federation of Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industry
GER Gross Enrolment Ratio
GESI Gender Equity and Social Inclusion
GIR Gross Intake Rate
GIS Geographical Information System
GoN Government of Nepal
GPE Global Partnership for Education
viii

HSE Higher Secondary Education
HSEB Higher Secondary Education Board
HSLC Higher School Leaving Certificate
I/NGO International NGO and NGO
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IE Inclusive Education
IEMIS Integrated EMIS
IT Information Technology
JFA Joint Financing Arrangement
JICA Japan International Corporation Agency
LDC Least Developed Country
LDE Local Department of Education
LLL Lifelong Learning
LRC Lead Resource Centre
MDG Millennium Development Goals
MEC Minimum Enabling Conditions
MGML Multi Grade-Multi Level
MoE Ministry of Education
MoFALD Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Government
MoHP Ministry of Health and Population
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MoWCSW Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare
MToT Master Training of Trainers
NASA National Assessment for Student Achievements
NCED National Centre for Education Development
NDHS Nepal Demographic and Health Survey
NEB National Education Board
NEGRP National Early Grade Reading Program
NER Net Enrolment Rate
NFE Non-formal Education
NFEC Non-formal Education Centre
NGO Non-government Organisation
NIR Net Intake Rate
NLSS Nepal Living Standards Survey
NLSS Nepal Living Standards Survey
NPC National Planning Commission
NQF National Qualification Framework
NVQF National Vocational Qualifications Framework
OAG Office of the Auditor General
OCE Office of Controller of Examinations
PMEC Priority Minimum Enabling Condition
PPC Pre-primary Centre
PPE Pre-primary Education
PTA Parent Teacher Association
SDG Sustainable Development Goal
ix

SESP Secondary Education Support Programme
SIP School Improvement Plan
SLC School Leaving Certificate
SMC School Management Committee
SSDP School Sector Development Plan
SSDS School Sector Development Strategy
SSRP School Sector Reform Plan
STR Student-Teacher Ratio
SWAp Sector Wide Approach
TEP Teacher Education Project
TESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
TEVT Technical Education and Vocational Training
TPD Teacher Professional Development
TSC Teacher Service Commission
TVE Technical and Vocational Education
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF United Nations Children Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WFP World Food Programme
x

1 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
1.1 Background
Nepal is at a crossroads both at the global level with the beginning of the post-2015 Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) era and at the national level with the rollout of the federal system
under the recently promulgated constitution (GoN 2015a). The School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP)
(MoE 2009) is the current Education Sector Plan, which was initiated in 2009 and ends in July
2016. As the follow-on of the Education Sector Plan, the government has developed this School
Sector Development Plan (SSDP) for the seven year period [mid-July 2016 to mid-July 2023(BS
2073–2080)] in line with Nepal’s vision to graduate from the status of a least developed country
(LDC) (NPC 2015a). The SSDP continues the government’s efforts to ensure access to quality
education for all through programmes such as Education for All (EFA; 2004-2007), the Secondary
Education Support Programme (SESP; 2003-2008), the Community School Support Programme
(CSSP; 2003-2008), the Teacher Education Project (TEP; 2002-2007) and most recently, the SSRP
(2009-2016).
Building upon the lessons learned and the gains made in the sector under these programmes,
the SSDP is designed to enable the school education sector to achieve unfinished agenda items
and to accomplish the targets defined under SDG number 4:
“Ensuring equitable and inclusive quality education and promoting life-long learning
opportunities for all’.
As such, the SSDP aligns with the commitment expressed by Nepal to the Incheon Declaration of
the World Education Forum and its Universal Declaration on Education by 2030 agenda (UNESCO
2015):
“to transform lives through education, recognizing the important role of education as
a main driver of development and in achieving the other proposed SDGs [….through] a
renewed education agenda that is holistic, ambitious and aspirational, leaving no one
behind.”
The SSDP also aligns with Nepal’s international commitment towards the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), which were ratified by the UN General Assembly in September 2015.
In the case of Nepal, the development of the SSDP is aligned with the broader framework of
developing a national plan that encompasses the entire education sector and leads up to 2030,
similar to the Nepal National Plan of Action (NNPA) that was developed for the EFA
implementation timeline (2000-2015).
The SSDP was developed through an inclusive and participatory approach and is based on an
analysis of the education sector. Starting in June 2015,Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) were
formed, background papers developed, and knowledge gaps filled by carrying out thematic
studies. Consultations were undertaken with stakeholders at all levels to confirm and validate
strategic priorities. These processes led to the development of the SSDP Approach Paper (MoE
2015a), which outlined the broad policy directions and way forward and provided the basis for
1

the SSDP document. At this stage it was decided that, unlike the SSRP (2009–15), this SSDP
document (2016—23) would encompass the broader policy framework as well as the plan.
The SSDP requires an expansion in emphasis from access to quality and equitable access,
participation and learning outcomes in education. Nepal’s new constitution (2015) demands a
thorough reorientation of the education system through structural and functional reforms
including the policy and regulatory frameworks. The constitution guarantees the fundamental
right to education and lays down the directive principles of the Federal State (the State) on
education and concurring rights.
The long awaited Bill (Eighth Amendment) to Education Act (1971) was tabled in the cabinet on 7
September 2015 (GoN 2015b). The parliament briefly discussed the amendment on 28
December 2015. This has generated hope among education planners and policymakers that the
Bill will be enacted soon. Note that much of the reform agenda introduced by the SSRP was put
on hold due to the lack of appropriate regulatory provisions. The promulgation of the new
Education Act is expected to ensure compatibility between and among educational institutions
and will also pave the way for necessary reforms in line with the new constitutional mandate.
Amidst the development of the new national education plan, the earthquakes of April and May
2015 seriously disrupted education services. Over 35,000 classrooms were mostly or totally
damaged, leaving more than one million children lacking access to safe, permanent places to
learn (NCE 2015). This has reversed much of the recent progress in the education sector in the
14 most affected districts and is expected to cause an increase in the number of out-of-school
children. The SSDP therefore prioritises reconstruction and recovery works as identified during
the Government’s Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) (NPC 2015b and 2015c)and in line
with the Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction that was adopted at the 2015 UN world
conference in Sendai (United Nations, 2015).
In short, the SSDP addresses the educational reform and developmental needs of the country in
the current context. Reform in the education sector is necessitated by the forthcoming
changeover to a federal system of governance. This will require changes in existing rules and
regulatory frameworks. On the other hand development works are needed to improve quality,
efficiency and service delivery and to ensure equitable access and participation, reaching out to
children and youth from communities and groups that have been unable to access or benefit
from the education system. This requires revisiting development programmes and building the
capacity of delivery units and agencies. Thus, in broad terms, the SSDP focuses on the reform
and development of the education sector in line with the new constitutional mandate.
1.2 Country Context
Formal education system in Nepal is relatively new as the access to school education was
confined to limited number of schools opened to serve the elites and wealthy populations for
decades. Planned expansion of school education began with the promulgation of the new
education system plan in 1971. Thus the history of public education system in Nepal has a
history of less than 50 years. However, within this short period of time Nepal has achieved
phenomenal growth in number of schools and enrollment rates. This expansion of the education
2

sector took place in a context of highly diverse needs and areas, in terms of socio demography
and culture and in a period of political reform and restructuring.
Socio-demography and culture
The 2011 census recorded Nepal as having a population of 26.5 million (2011 National Census)
(CBS 2012). The population has a high level of social, cultural, and ethnic diversity. The census
recorded 126 ethnic groups and 123 languages of which more than a dozen are in active use by
more than 100,000 people. Religion has a central place in Nepalese life and society. In the early
1990s, Nepal was the only constitutionally declared Hindu state in the world. The 2001 census
reported that 80.6% of the people were Hindus and 10.7% were Buddhists with the remainder
being mostly Muslims, Kirats, Christians and Jains (CBS 2010). The new constitution (GoN 2015a)
declares Nepal to be a secular state.
Politics and the economy
In 1990, the country transformed to a multiparty democracy within the framework of a
constitutional monarchy. A decade-long conflict between insurgents and government broke out
in 1996, culminating in a peace accord and the promulgation of the Interim Constitution. The
monarchy was abolished soon after and the Interim Constitution declared Nepal to be a federal
democratic republic. Nepal’s new federal constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015.
A country in transition
Federal structure and decentralization— The new constitution defined the Federal State of
Nepal as an “independent, indivisible, sovereign, secular, inclusive, democratic, socialism-
oriented federal democratic republican state.” (GoN 2015a: 1). The transformation into a federal
democratic republic is building on the decentralization of governance that the country had
initiated during the 1990s. Decentralization was adopted as a major government policy in the
Third Five Year Plan (1965-70). The aim was to engage people on planning and development-
related decision-making in the areas under local bodies. The government established village
development committees (VDCs), municipalities and district development committees (DDCs) as
the main local administrative units for decentralised governance. Since the beginning of the
1960s, these local bodies have been involved in local planning and development works.
After the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, and especially since 1999, the local
bodies have been responsible for local governance under the Local Self Governance Act (LSGA),
1999 and the Local Self Governance Regulation (LSGR), 1999, Local Body (Financial
Administration) Regulations, 2007 and other rules and operational manuals(HMGN 1999a,
1999b and GoN 2007b).
From MDGs to SDGs — Another major transition that is taking place as the SSDP is initiated is
the global move from the MDGs agenda (2000–2015)to contextualizing and adopting the SDGs
agenda (2015-2030). Nepal has made very good progress across most of the MDGs. It has halved
the proportion of people whose income is less than a dollar a day (MDG 1) with the rate
dropping from 33.5% in 1990, to 19.7% in 2010, and to 16.4% in 2013. The drop about one
percent per year meant that the 17% target for 2015 was achieved ahead of schedule (NPC
2013a).
3

Poverty in Nepal has thus declined at an impressive rate. An unpublished report suggested that
the annual rate of poverty decline increased from 1.5 percent between 1996 and 2004 to 2.5
percent between 2004 and 2011 (NPC 2013a: 10). The decline continued even during the ten-
year armed conflict. However, disparities remain, with poverty rates in rural areas, where over
80 percent of the population live, being higher than those in urban areas and also being higher
among certain population groups. Nepal has also achieved substantial gains with regards to its
MDG 1 target for reducing hunger. The 2015 target for the prevalence of underweight children
(29%) has been just met at 28.8% while the target for the proportion of the population with
below minimum dietary consumption (25%) was far exceeded at 15.7%.
The education sector
Education is a priority sector of the government as reflected in the large share of the budget
allocated to it and the rising public investment in education over the past decade. The education
sector has received the largest share of the government’s budget in recent years. Furthermore,
public investment in education as a fraction of gross domestic product (GDP) has increased from
less than 2.9 percent in 1999 to over 4.7 percent in 2010. Considering that Nepal’s GDP has been
growing at around 4.4 percent per year during this period, the increasing share of education of
GDP represents a very significant increase in investment in absolute terms. More than 80
percent of the government’s education budget goes to school education each year (Grades 1-12
inclusive).
Good progress has been made on the provision of and access to basic education over the past
two decades. As such, several visible gains have been documented in this sub-sector. Education
for All (EFA) Goal 2 is to ensure that all children, particularly girls and children in difficult
circumstances, and those belonging to disadvantaged ethnic groups have access to and
complete free and compulsory good quality primary education. The net intake rate in primary
schools has risen to 92.7 percent of eligible girls and 93.3 percent of eligible boys. Net enrolment
rates have also steadily improved (to 88.7 percent in 2015), although they have fallen short of
the SSRP target of 98 percent.
Despite the decade-long conflict and other political challenges, Nepal has made remarkable
progress in expanding learning opportunities for children and adults. Yet the quality of education
is generally low, as are secondary school completion rates. Insufficiently prepared teachers, the
lack of adequate and appropriate materials, and insufficient support at home are some of the
main factors that prevent many children from developing foundational skills for life that will
allow them to learn throughout their academic careers and beyond.
Nepal has achieved substantial, albeit uneven, progress towards its goal of ensuring universal
primary education, with it meeting the MDG indicator on enrolment in primary education but
not meeting the indicators on primary education survival and literacy despite the progress
shown on these indicators over the years. However, this progress should be viewed in the light
of the damage wrought by the 2015 earthquakes and the economic blockade, which both had an
immediate and significant impact on the enrolment, retention and completion rates within
education and is expected to have longer term effects that also further reduce the achievement
and disrupt the positive trends in other education outcomes. The overall negative impacts of
these things has yet to be calculated although they may well have significantly reversed some of
4

the large gains made over the past two decades. As such, Nepal will be unable to meet the
targets committed to under MDG 2 and will be challenged to graduate from the status of a least
developed country (LDC) in 2022 (UNESCO 2015).
The structure of the education sector
Nepal’s education system comprises school education and higher education. School education
includes Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED)/pre-primary education, primary
education and secondary education including lower secondary and higher secondary education.
However, the School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) proposes basic education in Grades 1 to
8 and secondary education in Grades 9 to 12 amounting to 12 years of formal school education.
Currently, the ECED/pre-primary classes have one to two years duration to prepare three to four
year old children for primary education. Primary schools provide five years of education (Grades
1 to 5) with the prescribed age for entry into Grade 1 being five years completers. Lower
secondary education consists of three years (Grades 6 to 8), secondary education is Grades 9 to
10 while higher secondary education is Grades 11 to 12. The intermediate level, which is
equivalent to higher secondary level, is also being offered under the system of university
education.
Higher education consists of bachelor's degrees of three to four years duration (depending upon
the subject) and two year-long masters’ degrees. Some universities also offer postgraduate
diploma and Master of Philosophy (M Phil) courses. The Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) is the
highest degree offered.
A technical stream of education has developed to produce basic and mid-level human resources.
The proposed SSDP intends to strengthen vocational education from Grade 9. The technical
schools and centres that are spread across the country, provide short and long-term training
courses on different subjects. Some courses are offered to Grade 10 students while other
courses are for students who have already passed the School Leaving Certificate (SLC).
The School Sector Reform Programme (2009-2016)
The SSRP (2009-2016) is being implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE) through a sector
wide approach (SWAp), with financial contributions from the GoN and a group of development
partners, including support from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The SSRP is the
latest and final programme in the 15 year EFA National Plan of Action, 2001-15 (EFA-NPA). MoE
is responsible for implementing both recurrent and development programmes within the school
education sector under the SSRP in accordance with the agreed strategic framework, a joint
financing arrangement (JFA), annual strategic implementation plans (ASIPs), and annual work
plans and budgets (AWPBs).
The programme has focused on the three pillars of access, inclusion, and quality, structured
across the following three components:
1. Basic education (Grades 1-8), Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) and
literacy and lifelong learning. The primary objective is to prepare pre-school-age children
through ECED for basic education, ensure equitable access to and quality of basic
5

education for all 5 to 12 year old children, and deliver basic numeracy and literacy to
youths and adults, especially women and marginalized groups.
2. Secondary education (Grades 9-12) and technical and vocation training pilot
programmes. The aim here is to improve access, equity, and quality and relevance of
secondary education for 13 to 16 year olds. This component also focuses on improving
the relevance of secondary education by introducing and exposing children to vocational
and technical education programmes that facilitate the school to work transition.
3. Institutional capacity strengthening (including teacher management) for the planning,
delivery and monitoring of educational services and products. This component aims to
improve the capacity of SSRP implementation agencies and partners to enhance delivery
and monitoring of educational services and products.
Education stakeholders
Nepal’s education sector caters for a highly diverse group of stakeholders in terms of culture,
context and needs. The main implication of this diversity for the education sector is the many
different first languages of students. A recent study found that nearly half of all schools in Nepal
had a majority of students who upon enrolment had no or limited understanding of Nepali as
they had until then spoken a different language (RTI 2014). Of these schools, more than half had
students that had two or more first languages. Also related to cultural diversity is the different
levels of educational attainment among different ethnic groups and castes, and the gender-
based disparities in access to and participation in education within these groups. The
geographical diversity means a great variation in the number of children living in schools’
catchment areas ranging from only a few in the high mountains to hundreds in the Terai plains
(MoE 2014).
In terms of composition of the school going population, about 22% of 4 year old children are out
of pre-school/primary school in Nepal, with no significant difference between girls and boys. In
basic level (Grade 1-8), Nepal has 6.13 million children (boys 51.1%, girls 48.9%) of age 5 to 12,
and1.39 million children (boys 49.2%, girls 50.8%) of age 13 to 16 who are enrolled in secondary
level (grade 9-12) (DoE 2016)
1.3 Key Issues and Challenges
Large achievements have been made in securing access to education and it is now necessary to
focus on quality and efficiency of education provision. It is necessary to address the challenges
related to the quality of education and the achievement of learning competencies without
leaving those behind who have not been able to access education. The SSDP therefore needs to
balance the limited capacity and available resources between safeguarding and completing the
agenda of the SSRP and the EFA while having a defined reform agenda towards the envisioned
quality transformation. This is all the more challenging given the damage wrought by the
April/May 2015 earthquakes and the economic constraints due to the constitution-related
agitations in the Terai. Furthermore, the institutional capacity within the education sector will be
partly consumed in the near future by the expected roll out of the federal structure and the
decentralization of planning and education management.
The following are the major challenges that face Nepal’s education system:
6

Quality of basic education
Under the SSRP, the strengthening of quality across the system and with regard to education
outcomes was flagged as a key issue both in the SSRP mid-term review (MTR) (Cummings et al
2012) and the SSRP independent joint evaluation (Poyck et al 2016). Whereas access and other
education sector indicators have progressed, this is yet to be translated into quality outcomes.
The current challenges related to the quality of education have resulted in many children not
learning as they progress through the system. As a result, school dropout and repetition rates
are still quite high, especially in the early grades and in grade 8, although the repetition rate in
these grades is showing a declining trend. The basic and secondary education survival rate and
Grade 10 School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam scores are generally low with large disparities in
achievement between public and private schools. About 86.8% of children who enrol in Grade 1
reach Grade 5 and only 74.6% survive up to Grade 8 (UNICEF 2016).
In terms of learning readiness, access to ECED and pre-primary centres (ECED/PPCs) has
increased significantly in recent years, and has been shown to be strongly correlated with
reduced drop out and repetition in early grades. Students’ learning is further compromised as
the level of early grade reading and maths proficiency is very low, thus preventing students from
progressing across other subjects due to low levels of literacy and numeracy. As such, learning is
to be at the centre of the reforms under SSDP. For this, the quality of inputs needs to be assured
in terms of teachers, teaching-learning resources and the enabling education environment.
Furthermore, the process needs to become child-centred in terms of inputs matching the
learning needs and learning styles of children. Teachers, especially core subject teachers, need
to strengthen their subject knowledge. The teaching process is too textbook-focused, lecture-
oriented, and needs to be strengthened to foster creative thinking and to enable core skills. The
professional development of teachers needs to be revisited to ensure that it results in a more
child-centred approach to teaching.
On governance and management, the management and distribution of teachers is yet to be
rationalised and the requirements for appointment are defined by certification and training
rather than also by competencies. Also, many teachers do not spend the required time-on-task.
Despite the strategy to reduce disparities in enabling learning environment through the
establishment of Minimum Enabling Conditions (MECs), and based on this, the selection of five
Priority Minimum Enabling Conditions (PMECs) that were envisioned to be established within all
schools and expanded into the broader set of MEC, only a small percentage of all schools will be
meeting all 5 PMECs at the end of the SSRP implementations. Furthermore, these PMECs do not
yet include the necessary condition of classrooms being constructed to disaster risk reduction
(DRR) standards. The great majority of school buildings do not meet minimum safety standards.
Following the earthquakes, ongoing disaster risk reduction campaigns to ‘build back better’
should mean that schools are (re)constructed in line with guidelines and specifications to
provide safe learning environments. Due to the April/May 2015 earthquakes, the existing MECs
in the 14 most affected districts have largely been reversed and thus a new baseline is being
established on the new targets that need to be established. Resource limitations are a major
challenge to establish or ensure minimum standards in schools with limited means.
Furthermore, classroom-level formative assessments are currently not being used by teachers in
a systemic way to guide, improve and adapt their teaching. The implementation of the
7

classroom-based assessments by teachers has not brought about the envisioned improved
quality outputs. And, many students do not receive the minimum prescribed number of
teaching-learning days.
Quality of secondary education
As teaching and learning in the classroom is largely driven by the nature of the board exams in
Grades 10, 11 and 12 (SLC and HSE), teachers and students tend to focus primarily on
memorisation and knowledge recall. Critical thinking, analysis, and creativity are not sufficiently
emphasized. Other issues related to the examination system are the lack of standardisation of
board exams and the irregular evaluation of exams, while recognizing the contemporary move
away from the standardized testing of children within education discourse. One reason for the
high SLC failure rates is the current examination-focused approach that requires students to pass
all subjects at the same time.
With regard to the enabling learning environment, the MECS for secondary schools have yet to
be finalised. Furthermore, supplementary, age-appropriate, self-reading material for helping
children develop a reading habit and interests are mostly not available. Many teachers,
especially those who teach science, maths and English in community schools, are in need of
strengthening their subject knowledge. Many schools have an inadequate number of subject
teachers. The government only funds two teachers at the higher secondary level of schools. This
is wholly inadequate. The secondary level textbooks have issues with regards to quality and
consistency and the timely receipt of textbooks by students is a major concern.
The upcoming federalization of the education system will establish a large autonomy for
provinces in terms of resource allocation, planning and implementation of education programs.
As such, it will be a challenge to ensure that minimum quality standards are guaranteed for
children in terms of learning environment and teaching-learning processes, while allowing the
flexibility for the different provinces to manage the education sector according to the needs and
diversity within their constituencies.
Equity and access
Nepal’s large language and cultural diversity means that the country’s children have diverse
learning needs. Meeting the diverse learning needs poses a challenge not only in terms of access
but also the appropriateness of content. The access of children from the most disadvantaged
and marginalised communities, groups and remote geographical areas has not improved in line
with the national increase in access, therefore increasing the disparity between these groups
and the rest of the school-aged population.
The mountain areas have the highest proportion (24.3%) of 4 year-olds not in pre-school or
primary school followed by children from the Terai. In terms of absolute numbers, the Terai has
the highest numbers of out of school children due to its higher density of primary aged children.
According to the 2011 census, Nepal had approximately 0.77 million children not attending
school, of which 0.57 million were of primary school age and 0.19 million of lower secondary
school age. About 46.5% (0.36 million) of the out-of-school population in Nepal are in the
Central Development Region, while the Eastern Development Region is home to 20.5% (0.15
million) of out of school children (UNICEF 2016).
8

While the overall education outcome indicators have shown progress in terms of enrolment,
retention and completion, certain groups have not been able to adequately gain from this
progress and in certain cases disparities have increased (MoE 2014). As such, equitable access
will remain a priority under the SSDP alongside strengthening the quality of education.
Another major remaining challenge is to ensure access to quality education for those children
affected by natural disasters and living in disaster prone areas. While the net enrolment rate
(NER) at the basic level increased significantly during the SSRP period, there continues to be a
large and persistent number of out of school children. Given that these children may be facing
multi-dimensional barriers, it is important to have evidence-tailored and targeted programmes
to bring them into the education system. A priority here is the full-fledged implementation of
the Consolidated Equity Strategy for the School Education Sector (MoE 2014), including the
incorporation of the Equity Index within the Education Management Information System (EMIS),
to allow for such targeting. The disproportionate provision of early childhood education
development (ECED) opportunities, currently concentrated in urban areas increases the
disparities in access and retention in basic education for children from disadvantaged groups.
The rapid expansion of the one year ECED programme has gone ahead with insufficient
attention to ensuring quality programmes. A priority here is therefore to improve the quality of
these programmes and carry out limited targeted expansion to strengthen equitable access.
Children with disabilities suffer from by far the largest challenges in terms of access,
participation and learning outcomes in the education sector. At the same time, the data on
education outcomes for this group is very limited for allowing analysis and classification to
inform targeted interventions. The strengthening of diagnostic and referral mechanisms and the
linkage and reflection within EMIS of further disaggregated data is very important.
At the secondary level, low enrolment at this level, including higher secondary level, continues
to be a concern. Many students drop out of the school system as they progress to higher levels
of education. Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS) data show a strong correlation between
households’ economic status and participation in schooling at secondary and higher secondary
levels. These data also shows that having to help with household and family farm work as being
key reasons given by children for dropping out of school. Furthermore, since most of the higher
secondary schools charge monthly fees, it is often difficult for poorer students to pursue further
studies. The fact that higher secondary schools are mostly located in more accessible areas and
urban centres makes it difficult for children who do not live nearby such a school to continue
their studies beyond Grade 10.
The upcoming restructuring of the system of government is likely to have implications for the
access to resources within the newly established provinces against the resources needed to
address the needs within the public sectors. The Mid-Western hills and mountains (known as the
Karnali zone) and the Central Terai have been identified as so called pockets of marginalized
communities in terms of education outcomes (MoE 2014) As such, the challenge is to establish a
strong evidence and need-based resource allocation formula that allows for need-based
targeting of education interventions that reduce disparities within access, participation and
learning outcomes.
9

Efficiency
The envisioned reforms in the institutional structure of the education system are yet to be
accomplished. School management, especially school management committees (SMCs) are yet
to institutionalize their role in need based planning and the quality assurance1
of education in
schools. Results based monitoring and evaluation of progress to inform children’s education
rather than to rate their performance (assessment for education instead of assessment of
education) is yet to become institutionalized and embedded in planning processes. Government
rules and regulations in schools are yet to be enforced effectively. Finally, to note that, between
Grades 1 and 9, dropout rates are particularly high in Grade 1 (6.4%) and Grade 8 (6%) (DoE
2016).
Regarding the sector’s internal efficiency, there has been continuous improvement in the SSRP
period. The key performance indicator that has been monitored during the SSRP on internal
efficiency shows an increase from 65% to 73% on internal efficiency. Despite this, ‘wastage’ can
be seen especially in the early grades (which does not affect the efficiency rating as much as
wastage in the higher grades), as well as in the transition from primary to lower secondary
(Grades 5 to 6) and from basic to secondary (Grades 8 to 9).
Regarding the expected private and socioeconomic rates of return of education (the sector’s
external efficiency), this continues to be low as opportunities for translating educational
achievements into employment opportunities remain limited and one of the largest
employment opportunities is unskilled labour abroad. Furthermore, the frequent transfers of
civil servants and duty bearers within the sector remains one of the main efficiency challenges
within the sector (ADB 2013).
Governance and accountability
Weak public financial management leads to the commonly late release of funds throughout the
education system, ineligible expenditure, reporting delays, and lapses in financial record-keeping
by schools. While social and financial audits are carried out by most schools, this has not yet led
to the envisioned strengthening of schools’ public financial management. Although the EMIS is a
robust data management system, the quality, accessibility and use of its data need
strengthening to prevent the inclusion of inflated enrolment numbers. The school-based
Integrated EMIS (IEMIS) will address the need for individual student level data and should inform
equity-based education indexes and targeted allocations and record the distribution of
scholarships and incentive schemes. The availability of textbooks remains a key issue in terms of
their timely printing and distribution. Finally, issues related to the position of head teachers
needs to be addressed as their role in teacher performance evaluations and their authority to
take actions against teachers remain limited. The effective implementation of School
Improvement Plans (SIPs) continues to be a challenge, and the mechanism for allocating district
budgets to schools is not adequately aligned with these plans.
1
The role of SMCs here refers to the quality of schools’ physical environment and teaching and learning in
classrooms. As such, SMCs are expected to engage in the pedagogical area of teaching and learning.
Further discussion is needed on this issue and the role of SMCs needs to be redefined and approaches to
strengthen SMCs re-considered.
10

As perthe School Management Committee Act, (MoE 2004), SMCs are to take a part in the areas
related to pedagogy in schools. However, this leaves the question of whether SMCs should have
this area of responsibility and what type of assurances should be in place to ensure that SMCs
are equipped to fulfil this role adequately. Also, existing rules and regulations need reviewing to
align school governance and management with the new constitutional mandate including
functions of SMCs, which should include reviewing the role of SMCs, especially in terms of
pedagogy.
Financing
The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates projected under the Thirteenth Plan, and the
projections forecasted in the Education Sector Analysis (MOE 2016) have been used to draw a
high growth and a low growth scenario FOR Nepal’s education sector. The average growth rate
of GDP in the last seven years (2008 to 2015) has been used to calculate a medium growth
scenario, with an adjustment made to project a realistic envelop for the SSDP based on the
expected impact of events that adversely affected Nepal’s GDP in 2015. All three scenarios are
presented in Annex **. The total estimated cost of the seven year SSDP comes to around US$
11,030 million, of which US$6,900 million is estimated for the first five years (2016/17-2021/22).
Furthermore, the SSDP will be implemented in a time where the sector analysis has projected a
decrease in the number of children in basic education and a bulge of children moving into
secondary education, which requires the refocusing of priorities and carrying their cost
implications. This also provides the unique opportunity to strengthen the quality of basic
education by increasing average investment per child in as the number of students decreases. In
this fast changing context in terms of governance and financing structure and needs based on
demographics, rationalization of investment is crucial. The SSDP will seek to ensure standardized
minimum quality standards while allow for flexible approaches that cater to the diverse context
and needs in which the programme is implemented.
Federal restructuring is expected to be accompanied by a large demand on the existing human
and institutional capacity within the system, as well as for additional roles and responsibilities to
execute the further decentralization of educational management and planning. At the same
time, the existing institutional capacity has been identified as in need of strengthening to ensure
performance-based management and adequate skills and competencies. Establishing the federal
transformation while at the same time ensuring that there is sufficient institutional capacity will
be a major challenge. There is a large need to progress“from a narrow training focus to a
comprehensive planning for capacity and institutional development (CID) exercise, which would
greatly improve sustainability both of strategies and outcomes for educational development into
the medium and long terms” (EU 2015).
1.4 Main achievements of the SSRP
Overall, it was found that awareness about the importance of education has increased during
the SSRP period (2009-2016), which in turn has increased overall expectations on the public
education system to provide this. One of the most important innovations of the SSRP is the
restructuration of the basic education which now comprises grade 1 to 8. With regard to access
and equity, the SSRP helped address existing disparities linked to caste, ethnicity, religion and
geography, but also helped avert potential conflicts and political divisions. Though access has
11

increased across the board, disparities still exist, especially for certain geographical areas,
children with disabilities and children from specific castes or ethnic groups.
With regards to the establishment of an enabling learning environment, learning outcomes and
student-teacher ratio have improved considerably, though there again, large disparities persist.
Furthermore, a set of minimum enabling conditions have been designed to provide school
communities with a benchmark for their operational planning, which was further prioritize to 5
prioritized minimum enabling conditions (PMECs). This has increased need based support to
schools to reduce disparities in learning environments although resource constraints and the
impact of the 2015 earthquake left a considerable amount of schools not meeting all of these 5
PMECs. The timely distribution of textbooks has been identified as one of these PMECs. To
reduce delays in textbook distribution, the production process was decentralized and opened up
to private companies. This has reduced delays to a certain extent.
1.5 Decentralized Planning
The SSRP introduced decentralized planning strategies and institutional arrangements to
strengthen planning and implementation within the school education sector at all levels. The
introduction of School Improvement Plan (SIP) enabled the local stakeholders to prepare plans
for the individual schools and was aimed at bringing local education stakeholders together for
planning and monitoring. The SSRP furthermore introduced School Management Committees
and Parents Teacher Associations at local level, as well as the creation of the Education Policy
Committee (EPC) and the ERO at central level. Furthermore, the institutional capacity for
monitoring and need based planning was strengthened under the SSRP in terms of the
comprehensive Education Management Information System (EMIS) and the introduction of
National Assessment for Student Achievements (NASA), as well as the establishment of the
Education review Office (ERO). SSRP’s unfinished agenda
Despite the gains made under the SSRP, the program’s objectives are yet to be fully met in a
number of areas, most notably those of quality, learning outcomes and efficiency. With regard
to the program’s reform agenda, the adoptation of the 8th Amendment of the Education Act, is
considered the main institutional reform that is yet to be achieved in order to fully embed the
school sector structure reform into the education act and regulations. Where most SSRP
strategies aimed at improving access were found to be adequate, efforts on capacity building
and management are required to ensure the implementation of these strategies is further
strengthened.
With regard to quality, teacher professional development and management is a key agenda that
is yet to be achieved. Whereas the SSRP has launched a number of initiatives to strengthen
teachers’ professional development, this is yet to be transformed in overall improved teaching-
learning processes within the classroom. With regard to the management the harmonization of
the different types of teachers and their distribution across regions and sub sectors within the
school education is another priority that will need to be further addressed in the years to come.
In addition to this, promising reforms and initiatives have been initiated under the SSRP period,
such as the National Early Grade Reading Programme (NEGRP) and programmes strengthening
learning outcomes through improved provision of Medium of Instruction and Languages of
Education (MILE). Furthermore, competency-based curricula were developed and soft skills
12

programmes were piloted. The didactical material produced by different projects is yet to be
integrated into the curricula.
Whereas the SSRP has been successful in strengthening the use of EMIS and establishing NASA
and ERO, school level monitoring and evaluation is still facing challenges. Schools have been
found to lack the required capacity and conceptual clarity to implement the Continuous
Assessment System (CAS) as envisioned. Supervision capacity at school level remains limited in
terms of the SMC capacity. The current structure of School Supervisors (SSs) and Resource
Persons (RPs) has been found insufficient in terms of meeting the needs for evaluation and
support of pedagogical processes within the school.
Public Financial Management (PFM) has been considered as one of the priority areas for
improvement. As such, a number of measures to mitigate fiduciary risks have been taken and
initiated, namely the review of the financial management improvement action plan, the fund
flow tracking mechanism, the teacher development plan, the database of student and school
facilities, as well as the transfer of teacher salaries to their bank accounts. These measures
helped reduce ineligible expenses, such as double payment of salaries and incorrect per capital
funding to schools.
Finally, the earth-quake of March/April 2015 brought new challenges, as large reconstruction
and recovery needs have emerged within the education sector, as well as non-infrastructural
needs such as the need for teachers to teach several grades in one classroom in an environment
that is still affected by infrastructural damage. The implementation of SSDP will have to balance
those needs emerged from the disaster with those already present prior to this.
1.6 Opportunities
The strong foundation that has been laid for Nepal’s system of school-based education provides
many opportunities for determining and implementing new plans and programmes. The new
constitution reaffirms education as a fundamental right:
“Every citizen shall have the right to compulsory and free basic education, and free
education up to the secondary level.”
The following are the main opportunities:
• School-level education is given a high priority in government plans and policies.
• Schools have been opened in sufficient numbers down to village and community levels, and
these schools have the capacity to sustain the demand for pupil enrolment.
• The (re)construction of schools, post-earthquakes, in line with approved guidelines and
technical specifications to provide disaster risk-reduced and safe learning environment.
• The Governments’ Consolidated Equity Strategy for the School Education Sector is the first
of its kind and the envisioned implementation of its two folded approach to prioritize
resource allocations disparity based formulas to strengthen equitable education outcomes,
as well as to consolidate and target existing strategies will be a major opportunity under the
SSDP.
• Since the beginning of SSRP in 2009 and under the ICT in the Education Master Plan (MoE
2013), the Ministry of Education has include computer and information and communication
13

technology (ICT) support to schools on a regular basis. This has increased access to
computers and the internet across Nepal, which is allowing for the scaling-up the use of
information technology (IT) in school education.
• Nepal has articulated its commitment to the Universal Declaration on Education by 2030
(UNESCO 2015). As such, it is expected to foster international cooperation and collaboration
for educational development in the country.
• The professional knowledge of teachers is increasing. The recently deployed cohorts of
teachers are entering the profession through a competitive process, a practice that is likely
to continue.
• Structural mechanisms have been put in place and are functioning for curriculum
development and for school management for overall quality, examination systems, teacher
selection, teacher training, professional development and measuring student achievements.
• Public investment in education is increasing and private sector involvement is increasing
dramatically.
• Parents are becoming more eager to invest in their children’s education.
• The activities of NGOs and civil society organizations are increasing in the education sector.
• The interest and commitment of all sectors in skill-oriented education is increasing.
• The desire for lifelong education is increasing among adults.
• The education sector has comprehensive data on the impact of the 2015 earthquakes. The
sector initiated a DRR strategy, the resilience of education stakeholders has been
strengthened and contingency planning updated. The valuable lessons learned need to
inform the planning and implementation of reconstruction and recovery in the education
sector and best practices, such as the retrofitting of schools, need scaling up.
• The institutional set up envisaged by the new constitution will allow state and local
governments to oversee the provision of school education.
14

2 OVERALL VISION, OBJECTIVES, POLICY DIRECTIONS AND STRATEGIES
2.1 Vision 2022
A Nepal that protects and promotes democracy and human rights, and is committed
towards continuous education, in which its citizens have a positive perception of labour,
are oriented towards self-employment, have the agency and ability to be active and healthy
citizens of their communities and the country; and contribute to solving the emerging
challenges faced by people, society and the nation in the twenty-first century.
2.2 Purpose
For Nepal’s school education to equip its citizens with the skills and agency needed to elevate
Nepal’s status as Least Developed Country.
2.3 Goal
The Goal of the SSDP is to contribute to socio-economic development and reduce disparities
within the country through a continuous and inclusive development of its human resources
capacity by facilitating all citizens with the opportunity to become functionally literate,
numerate, and develop the basic life skills and knowledge required to enjoy a productive life,
raking into account the diversity of context and needs and with regards to the forthcoming
federalization of the country.
2.4 Objectives
In order to attain Vision 2022, the education sector needs to prepare human resources that:
• protect and promote democracy and human rights;
• are committed towards continuous education;
• have a positive perception of manual labour and vocational trades;
• are oriented towards commercial agro-business, self-employment and to an extend
industrialization;
• have the agency and ability to be active and healthy citizens of their communities and the
country; and
• contribute to solving the emerging challenges faced by people, society and the nation in the
twenty-first century.
On a more specific level the objectives of the education sector are as follows related to equity,
quality, efficiency, relevance and governance:
• Equity; to ensure that the education system is inclusive and equitable in terms of access,
participation and learning outcomes, with a special focus on reducing disparities among and
between groups that have been identified as having the lowest level of access, participation
and learning outcomes.
o Access; to identify and mitigate existing barriers for groups with the lowest level
of access by applying need based strategies to reach these children and
15

identifying and tracking these children through a strengthened Education
Management Information System.
o Participation; to ensure the school sector has mechanisms in place with regards
to tracking the retention of marginalized children throughout the school system,
as well as preventative and rapid response strategies for when children from at
risk groups are irregular attending or have dropped out.
• Quality; to increase students’ learning through enhancement of the relevance and quality of
education.
o Through sufficient competed and motivated teachers at all levels and subjects
equitable distributed across all schools.
o Establishment of enabling learning environment — enabling Students develop
knowledge, skills and attitudes as envisaged in the curriculum at all levels,
relevant to the present and future need of the country and comparable to global
standards.
o Ensuring proficiency in Reading and Math skills for students completing grade 3
as building stones for further learning
o Assessment for education allowing analysis and informing planning based on
identified trends and needs
o Relevance; to facilitate the realization of Nepali’s aspirations within the global
and national context.
• Efficiency; to strengthen and reorient governance and management systems in the
education sector to make them robust and accountable to local government while assuring
agreed overall minimum standards in teaching and learning processes and the learning
environment.
• Governance & Management; to accommodate the political and administrative restructuring
of the education sector in line with the identified needs and the federal context, develop a
disaster resilient system and ensure sustainable financing and strong financial management
by introducing a cost-sharing modality between central, provincial, and local governments.
2.5 Policy Directions for SSDP
1. Reform rules and regulations to align school governance and management with the new
constitutional mandate.
2. Continue decentralization of school sector with handing over schools management to
communities
3. Fulfilling the commitment towards universal primary completion and strengthening
linkage between ECED and Basic level, bringing all basic level age children to schools and
retaining them until the end of grade 8.
4. Strengthening linkage between basic and secondary level to ensure children complete
the full education cycle.
5. Diversification of secondary education to meet diverse learning needs, abilities and
aptitude.
16

6. Instruction in mother tongue in early grades and teaching Nepali as a second language
are critical to enhance learning opportunities for children whose mother tongue is other
than Nepali.
7. Improving the relevance, quality and equity in basic education, in particular teacher
professional development to be oriented toward core competencies and linked to in
service follow up support and monitoring of performance and strengthen focus on
development of early grade reading and math skills.
8. Improving the relevance, quality and equity in basic education, in particular need based
allocations and monitoring to reduce disparities in minimum enabling conditions.
9. Focus on value-based skills-oriented pre-vocational education at basic level and school
based occupational and vocational education through a technical stream at secondary
level.
10. Strengthening the curriculum in terms of relevance to the present and future needs
within peoples’ livelihoods (including health and occupational related needs) and those
of the country, comparable to global standards.
11. Ensure all (re)construction of educational infrastructure is done according to approved
norms and regulations for ‘safe schools’ and with adequate technical oversight.
2.6 Strategies
1. Review and assess rules and regulations to align them with the constitutional mandates.
2. Strengthen engagement and accountability of communities in general and parents in
specific in the management and monitoring of the quality of education at the local level.
3. Focus on improving the quality of basic education.
4. Introduce programmes to improve access to and quality of secondary education.
5. Strengthen the efficiency of the school education system by maximizing graduation and
completion rates and minimizing repetition and drop-out rates at basic and secondary
education.
6. Introduce a separate stream of technical and vocational education in secondary schools.
7. Improve the relevance and value of education for peoples’ livelihoods, well-being and
agency.
8. To strengthen the Education Management Information System to reflect all school
education sector related data (NASA, NFE-MIS, DRR & Reconstruction EMIS, Equity
Index) and to be based on the school based Integrated EMIS. Mainstream and enforce
comprehensive school safety and disaster risk reduction (CSS-DRR) to create safe and
secure spaces conducive for teaching and learning
9. Upscale the retrofitting of schools in the Kathmandu valley based on the good practice
under the school safety flagship program.
2.7 Links with Country Development Objectives
• Align the SSDP with country development objectives as stated in the Thirteenth
Development Plan (NPC 2014).
17

• Underscore the need to change the discourse on educational reform from a social
development intervention into a human resource investment that is as important, if not
more important, than capital investments.
• Advocate for more visibility for education reforms in the national development goals as put
forward by the National Planning Commission (NPC). It is important to underscore that the
sustainable achievement of these seven goals is contingent on highly qualified human
resources.
• Demonstrate that a key condition of integrated and systemic planning is to demonstrate the
importance of a shared commitment about common national priorities. A key expression of
political commitment to reform is that SSDP should not only be seen as a Ministry of
Education priority. Champions for SSDP should be identified and engaged from the Cabinet,
NPC, and all relevant ministries to ensure that the reform agenda is adequately supported
and funded, and well integrated with other national development programmes.
18

3 PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION
3.1 Guiding Principles
The changed context and evolving socio-political order under the new constitution provide the
foundation for reforming the country’s governance and management systems. As such, sectoral
development planning and its operational mandates are also not intact from these reform.
Alongside this national and international best practices and the following policies and
instruments have provided the guiding principles for developing the SSDP document:
Constitutional provisions and legal instruments – The recently promulgated constitution (2015)
and subsequent policy, act and regulations as they are enacted, served as the main guide for
developing SSDP. The governance and management of the educational system and its delivery
mechanisms need reorientation to fulfil the intent and mandates of the new constitution. For
example, free and compulsory basic education and free secondary education remain as the
major agenda in SSDP. Also, the gradual devolution of governance and management to the local
level is another major focus of the plan.
National periodic plan – The current national periodic plan (2013–2016) (NPC 2014) has the goal
of Nepal graduating from a least developed country (LDC) to a developed one by 2022. All
sectoral objectives, including those in the SSDP, must therefore be aligned with this overarching
national goal.
International and regional covenants and commitments – Nepal is a signatory to various
covenants where it has made global and regional commitments. Its commitment to Education
for All (EFA) by 2015 (2001-2015) and to the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 (NPC 2015)
are the major covenants directly related to the education sector. These commitments provided
the basic guidelines for drafting the SSDP’s programme and strategies for the next seven years
and beyond.
EFA/SSRP reflections – The EFA national plan of action 2001-15 (NNC-UNESCO 2003) and the
School Sector Reform Plan, 2009-2015 (SSRP) (MoE 2009) are the two major recent programmes
of the education sector. Their implementation provides an abundance of lessons learned and the
challenges faced. SSDP is largely build on lessons learned from these experiences. The SSDP
partly reflects the legacies of EFA and SSDP alongside new initiatives to address the emerging
needs of the country and the people’s aspirations.
3.2 Programme readiness
To ensure the smooth implementation of SSDP, several strategic reform and provisions have
been made in terms of institutional and functional arrangements:
Enabling environment – The enabling environment for school education will be improved
through structural and functional reforms. This requires realigning the existing school structure
with Grades 1-2 and into basic (1-8) and secondary (9-12) levels of education. Within the overall
basic and secondary levels, sub-structures will also be created at 1–3, 1–5, 1-8, and 1–12 levels
to ensure easy access to basic and secondary education.
19

Education resource centres and district education offices (DEOs) are the local administrative
units and provide technical backstopping to the delivery of education at the local level. Their
functions and operations need reviewing and restructuring based on a comprehensive study and
assessment against SSDP’s requirements.
Regulatory provisions – Appropriate laws, rules and regulations are the basic instruments for
the implementation of SSDP’s programmes. The full implementation of SSDP therefore requires
amending existing laws, including the Grade 1-12 school structure, teacher qualifications and
career path (basic and secondary levels), education streaming into general and vocational
education, endorsing the National Qualification Framework as the guiding instrument for
certification and accreditation, and forming a National Examination Board. An amendment bill to
the Education Act has been already tabled in the parliament and is expected to be promulgated
soon.
Governance and management – As per the Education Act and its regulations, school
management committees (SMCs) and parent teacher associations (PTAs) have major
responsibilities for school governance and management. However, it is necessary to realign their
roles of responsibilities given their prominence in school governance and management and the
heightened roles bestowed upon village development committees (VDCs) and municipalities in
the new constitution.
The roles of SMCs and PTAs need to be realigned with the roles by reactivating and
strengthening the village education committees (VECs). While SMCs need to focus more on
school level planning, head-teachers need to carry out more technical functions including
teacher performance reviews and teachers' time on task and teacher capacity building.
The possibility will be explored of establishing single governing bodies for school education led
by elected local government within their jurisdiction. This will facilitate the zoning of schools
based on their catchment areas as well as the planning and allocation of educational resources
and local delivery mechanisms. School zoning will allow more effective resourcing, planning,
entitlement and accountability.
Internal management and the day-to-day functioning of schools will rest with SMCs and PTAs
while the ‘external’ administrative and logistical functions will rest with VDCs and municipalities.
Thus, the internal management and delivery service of schools will rest with SMCs and PTAs
whereas external functions, including financing and accountability to provide access to quality
education will rest with VDCs and municipalities.
Resource allocation – Different modes of financing will be explored to balance between schools’
basic requirements and their developmental needs. Differential cost sharing will be adopted
(depending on local capacity). The possibility of generating funds locally and engaging in public-
public and public-private partnerships will be explored.
Capacity building – Teacher professional development is the major capacity development
component of SSDP. Individual, organizational and systemic capacity building are discussed in a
separate chapter of this document. A separate plan will be developed to focus on capacity
building in line with the restructuring of the governance system under the new constitution. To
make the teacher recruitment process simple accessible to all potential candidates, the
20

functions of the Teacher Service Commission at the local level will be reviewed and innovations
piloted in a few areas.
Sector analysis, including risk analysis
As the implementers of the SSDP work on reforming existing rules and regulations to align
school governance and management with the federal constitutional mandate, part of the
transition challenge is to propose a plan with policies that demonstrates technical feasibility,
value acceptability, tolerable cost and political viability:
1. Technical feasibility: Do the policies reflect understanding of actual mechanisms by which
they would be implemented in practice? Have these mechanisms been tried before? What is
the evidence that the proposed policies succeeded or will succeed? Is there adequate staff
at the federal, provincial, and local levels who understand the proposed changes and will
implement them successfully?
2. Value acceptability: Are the proposed changes compatible with the values of the subject
matter specialists? Among the many value laden issues on which specialists’ positions may
collide are: language(s) of instruction, role of governments in education, type of school
governance, efficiency versus equity, public versus private, student assessments, and school
to career pathways. Reflecting on value compatibility, Aryal (2014) wonders how the Nepali
school and educational system, which is linked to the dated political ideology of the
Panchayat regime (1960–1990), will handle the federal implications of history content,
language use, school management and financing, and religious schools. The challenge with
value acceptability is that, if not addressed, it can result in policies that are too polarizing to
implement.
3. Tolerable cost: The rights, educational policies, and social justice articles in Nepal’s new
constitution are equity concerns with cost implications. An essential component of the
financial feasibility of the SSDP rests on there being actionable and fundable strategies that
politicians, interest groups, and other stakeholders can support.
4. Political viability: Ensuring that the transition to the federal education system is not framed
as political rhetoric entails education reform architects being able to argue that SSDP reflects
public aspirations about equitable and quality education. The preamble of the new
constitution commits to:
ending all forms of discrimination and oppression created by feudal, autocratic,
centralized, and unitary system. It further commits to embracing multi-caste, multi-
lingual, multi-cultural, and diverse geographical specificities, by ending discrimination
relating to class, caste, region, language, religion, and gender including all forms of
racial untouchability.
Making the case in the public arena that SSDP contributes to achieving the ideals of the new
constitution is an important step to secure its political viability.
21

3.3 Methodology
3.4 SSDP Key Performance Indicators
SSDP Sub
sector/
Thematic
area Indicators
Current
Status
(2015/16)
3 year
target
(2018/19)
5 year
target
(2020/21)
7 year
target
(2022/23)
PPC/ECED
GER IN ECED/PPC 81a
90 94 96
% of PPC/ECED teachers
with required qualification 42.16a
75 95 100
% of PPC/ECED teachers
with one month training 0 50 75 100
% of grade 1 new entrants
with ECED experience 62.4a
78 86 90
Basic
Education
Gross Intake Rate in Grade 1 136.7a
125 115 110
Net Intake Rate in Grade 1 93.9a
95 97 100
GER of basic (Grades 1-5) 135.4a
125 115 102
NER of basic (Grades 1-5) 96.6a
98.5 100 100
GER of basic (Grades 1-8) 120.1a
115 112 110
NER of basic (Grades 1-8) 89.4a
94 97 100
GPI in NER in Basic (Grades
1-8) 1a
1 1 1
Survival Rate for Grade 8
Completion rate for basic
level 69.7a
80 85 90
% of out-of school children
in basic level (age 5-12) 11.3a
6 3 0
Students’ Learning
achievement scores (%) in
Grade 5 Math 48.3b
53 57 60
English
46.8b
50 55 60
Nepali 46.3
b
55 60 65
Students’ Learning
achievement scores (%) in
Grade 8 ( based on NASA) Math: 35c
55 58 62
Nepali: 48c
57 60 65
Science: 41
c
50 55 60
Secondary
Education
GER in Grades 9-10 75.1a
90 95 98
GER in Grades 9-12 56.7a
80 85 90
NER in Grades 9-10 57.9a
85 90 95
NER in Grades 9-12 37.7a
45 55 60
Survival rate to Grade 10 37.10a
50 65 75
GPI in NER in Grades 9-12 0.99a
1 1 1
Transition rate from Grade 8
to 9 93a
95.38 98.0 100
Number of 0 200 500 1000
22

SSDP Sub
sector/
Thematic
area Indicators
Current
Status
(2015/16)
3 year
target
(2018/19)
5 year
target
(2020/21)
7 year
target
(2022/23)
model/comprehensive
schools
Number of students enrolled
in technical subjects in grade
9-12 9750a
72,540 102600 126,600
Non-formal
Education
and Life Long
Learning
Literacy rate 6+ 65.9d
80 85 90
Literacy rate 15-24 87.5e
93 95 98
Literacy 15+ 57f
65 72 80
Teacher
Management
and
Professional
Development
% of female teachers in basic
level 38.8 42 45 50
Sector
finance
% of Education sector
budget out of national
budget. 12.04% 15% 17% 20%
a. DoE (2016). Flash I Report, 2015/16
b. ERO (2016). NASA Report 2016,
c. (2016). NASA Report 2015,
d. CBS (2011). National Statistics Report,
e. NPC (2070). 13th plan
f. CBS (2011). NLSS Report
23

4 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT/PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION
4.1 Introduction
The importance of early childhood education has been highlighted by research as a key
intervention for improving the quality of education in schools. Significant gains have been made
in improving access to early childhood education and development/Pre-Primary Education
(ECED/PPE) during the EFA and SSRP periods (2001–2015).The Gross Enrolment Rate in ECED has
reached to almost 78 percent (DoE 2015). There has been remarkable progress in ECED/PPE.
While in 2002, only about 10 percent of students in Grade 1 had taken part in ECED/PPE, the
proportion had reached 60 percent by 2014. And the average enrolment rate of 4 year-old
children in ECED/PPE programmes is now almost 78 percent. The number of ECED/PPE centres
had increased to over 35,000 in 2014. The National Policy on Early Childhood Development (DoE
2004a) provided the basis for these achievements.
However, quality and equity in early education remain as major challenges as this service is not
equally available to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Girls, children with special needs,
orphans, children on the streets, and other vulnerable children have least access to these
services. Other challenges include the capacity of management committees, the limited or lack
of training of ECED/PPE teachers, poor implementation of the curriculum due to inadequate
teacher preparation and poor infrastructure.
4.2 Goal and Objectives
Goal: To promote a comprehensive approach to ECED/PPE programmes to safeguard the rights
and fully develop the physical, socio-emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and moral potential of
children below 5 years.
Objectives:
• To foster early childhood development.
• To ensure children’s school readiness at an appropriate age upon entering Grade 1.
4.3 Policy directions
a) Ensure school readiness through access to one year early childhood education
development/Pre-primary Education (ECED/PPE) programmes for all children that will
be/turn four years during the academic year in line with the Constitution.
b) Ensure expansion and relocation is done based on agreed criteria to prioritize access by
marginalised communities and areas while expanding through a phase wise approach.
c) All basic education school are to establish a one year school based ECED program
d) Develop and approve regulations and guidelines for ECED facilities to be school-based
where possible, and for the different types and modalities of ECED including their
administration and management linkage with the school in their vicinity in the other
cases.
e) Mandate local governments to operate and manage ECED programmes in their
jurisdictions and allocate revenue to fund expansion of ECED.
24

f) Coordinate involvement of non-government actors through Memorandum of
Understandings (MoUs) with private sector and Community Based Organizations (CSOs)
to run ECED programs in unserved areas.
g) Develop and approve regulations and guidelines for an additional year of childhood
development programmes by communities or non-government actors, including
schools.
h) Develop and approve regulations and guidelines for minimum quality standards of
ECED programmes, including minimum enabling learning environment standards,
enabling children to obtain Early Learning Development Standards (ELDS).
i) Formalize technical and administrative support to be provided to ECED program based
on guidelines and requirements in terms of monitoring of approved minimum quality
standards.
a) Enforce mandatory pre-service training to all ECED facilitators and approve action plan
for all ECED facilitators currently employed without this training to be trained.
j) Remuneration of ECED facilitators is aligned with Grade 10 level of government
employees.
4.4 Strategies
Equity
a) Need based expansion of ECED facilities through identification of areas/locations in
communities in collaboration with central government with VDCs and municipalities to
conduct ECED mapping to identify locations with high disparity in terms of access to
ECED, prioritizing expansion to most needy communities and geographic locations based
on observed low basic level NIR and low % of children that enrol in grade 1 with ECED
experience.
k) Relocation and merging of ECED facilities in line with school catchment areas will be
undertaken aligned with mapping of schools in basic education, to ensure access to
ECED is maximized with the available resources and where possible non-school based
ECED is relocated to, or linked with the school in the vicinity to strengthen management
and increased access to education facilities.
b) Expansion of ECED facilities through engagement of communities and non-government
actors by local government, in line with regulations and framework to standardize
contributions and with Government coordination to accelerate expansion in most
needed areas and mitigate overlaps and duplication in services provided by different
actors.
a) Establishment of different models of ECED services, such as school-based, community-
based and home-based programmes, responding to the identified needs and projected
trends, and in compliance approved norms and implementation frameworks for the
different models.
b) Strengthening of parental/community engagement in ECED, through the provision of
packaged programs, linking ECED with family literacy, income generation, health and
hygiene awareness, and skills training programmes.
25

c) Establishment and strengthening of diagnostic and referral mechanisms to identify and
support children with disabilities (CwDs), including establishment of specialized CwD
ECED facilities and home-based support for children with complex or severe disabilities.
In addition, all ECED facilitators will receive a module as part of their induction training
on identification and support of children with disabilities.
d) Development of a specific component for the recovery of the ECED subsector from the
impact of the 2015 earthquake as part of the overall recovery roadmap, including both
infrastructure and other needs.
Quality
b) Development of norms and guidelines to support SMCs, ECDMC sin the management
and monitoring of ECED programs operating in line with the approved minimum quality
standards, including standards for minimum enabling learning environment, to ensure
relevance of operation and use of educational resources with Early Learning
Development Standards (ELDS). The Ministry of Education will standardize the existing
curricula through CDC and prepare one year and multiple year packages, of which the
prior will be mandatory across all ECED program and the latter is optional for schools
that operate multi-year ECED programs.
c) The MoE, in collaboration with VDCs and municipalities will conduct ECED mapping to
identify locations and groups with limited access to ECED services. Based on the results
of the mapping, local governments in collaboration with the DEO, plan strategies to
reach out to populations deprived of ECED services.
d) Provision of on month pre service intensive training for ECED facilitators, including
those already employed based on child development methodology and in line with the
ELDS.
e) Development of an ECED career path, including provision of performance based
incentive, and specification of different levels and remuneration.
f) Introduction of ECED as a module for graduates of basic education (at Grade 9) to
increase number of competent and committed ECED facilitator candidates to become
available, with provisions made available to graduates of this course, such as priority
enrolment in ECED related academic courses.
g) Enforcement of regulation of all ECED facilitators to have minimum qualifications (SLC
graduation) and increase of remuneration in line with Government norms accordingly.
In addition, facilitators not meeting these qualifications will be supported to obtain this
within three years, after which they will be classified in the approved remuneration
scale, or retire.
h) Development of interaction classroom based assessments of children’s overall
development against the ELDS and guidelines for facilitators to document and track
trends in the outcomes of these assessments minimizing administrative implications.
i) Engagement of parents, facilitators and communities in monitoring and feedback on
ECED program and development outcomes. Parents will be engaged through scheduled
interaction programs at the centres to increase their awareness and involvement on the
development of their children.
26

Efficiency
a) Support community schools with community-based ECED centres in their vicinity to
establish functional and effective links between. all ECEDs are aligned with neighbouring
schools for technical and administrative support and receive individual EMIS codes
b) Strengthen the roles of local governments to supervise and monitor ECED with the focus
on follow-up support.
c) Strengthen coordination between central level ministries for integrated interventions
across health, nutrition, education and protection, and take a more holistic approach to
drive results for children.
d) Strengthen cross sectoral coordination within district on early child development and
preparation of multi-sectoral ECD district plans with input from DEO, DHO
Relevance
a) Empower local governments to run ECED programmes by developing norms, guidelines
and incentives to operate such programmes in partnership to support early childhood
education development on demand.
b) Explore the use of traditional and local knowledge transfer practices particularly for
imparting skills.
4.5 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries
By the end of SSD:
3.6 million children by age four receive at least one year ECED learning
32,000 school/community based ECED centres established
32,000 ECED facilitator position filled.
1,400 master training of trainers (MToT) courses run on giving ECED facilitators basic training.
All 32,000 ECED facilitators receive ECED basic training
4.6 Key Performance Indicators
ECED Percentage of grade 1 new entrants with ECED experience
Number of ECED facilitators with required qualification
Number of ECED facilitators with one months’ training
GER in ECED/PPC
4.7 Key Results
SSDP Key Results — Early Childhood Education and Development
1. Improved access and equity in ECED
1.1 Need based expansion of access to ECED
a All children have access to ECED facilities within the approved student-facilitator norm
b Communities and local Government supports additional year of ECED
c Expansion of services are resourced form local Government revenue
d Local Governments are accountable for their progress against the targets of access to ECED within
their jurisdiction.
e Multiple modes of ECED delivery are operational, responding to the diverse context and needs of
the communities in which they are located.
f Expansion of ECED services in unserved areas through partnerships with CSOs and private sectors
27

to implement ECED programs.
1.2 All children in earthquake affected areas will have access to ECED facilities within the approved
student-facilitator norm
a Reconstruction of ECED facilities in earthquake affected districts based on the identified post
disaster needs
1.3 Reduced disparities in enrolment of age appropriate children in ECED
a Age appropriate children not or irregular accessing ECED services are identified within the
communities.
b Parents increase demand towards communities and local Governments to enrol their children in
ECED services before the age of 5.
c Context appropriated ECED models are provided for groups with lowest NIR and grade 1 with
ECED experience enrolment in remote areas and children with severe/complex disabilities.
2 Improved quality of ECED
2.1 ECED programs operating in line with approved minimum quality standards
All ECED programs are being monitored to operate in line with the approved minimum quality
standards.
Curricula across all ECED programs and different types and modalities is standardized along
learning objectives, upward linkages with school education and non-text based instruction is
adopted
2.2 Competent ECED facilitators are attracted and retained
A ECED facilitators have completed grade 10 as minimum requirement and receive remuneration
aligned with minimum wage for SLC graduates
B Increased perception of ECED facilitator as a career opportunity.
C ECED facilitators complete pre service induction training and annual in service refresher training
and are certified.
D One year ECED course is introduced as an optional subject in Grade 9
2.3 Increased school readiness of children enrolled in ECED programs
A Regular interaction based assessment to monitor children’s development.
B Increased participation and contribution of parents, communities and local bodies in planning
ECED resources monitoring development outcomes for children enrolled
2.3 ECED learning materials and environments are in line with minimum quality and relevance
standards
a ECED classrooms meet approved minimum learning environment and learning material standards
ECED programs apply an interactive and experiential pedagogical approach, aligned with
measurable development outcomes
2.4 ECED centres operate in compliance with the resilience and risk reduction norms
Relevance: Flexible and multiple modes of ECED programmes are introduced – based on mapping,
and local demand packaged programmes are designed.
2.9 Strengthened cross-sectoral institutional linkage at local level to support holistic child
development
3. Effective governance and management system
A central level joint committee is formed to coordinate inter-ministerial functions, roles and
28

Ssdp final draft --april 4, 2016

Ssdp final draft --april 4, 2016

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

More from laxman sharma

More from laxman sharma (16)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Ssdp final draft --april 4, 2016