Nepal's Rs 211 Billion Education Budget Meets a Crisis in Classroom Learning

Six in ten students fall short in Grade 10 mathematics

Nepal allocated Rs 211.17 billion to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for the fiscal year 2082/83 (2025/26), yet a national assessment shows that about 60% of Grade 10 students fell short of the minimum mathematics standards expected by the curriculum. Across nearly 28,000 community schools serving more than 4.6 million children, the challenge is turning access to classrooms into learning inside them.

The Education Review Office's Grade 10 assessment report, covering 2023, draws on 43,219 students in 1,800 schools across 76 districts. It examines mathematics, science, English and Nepali, providing a detailed picture of what students know near the end of secondary schooling.

In mathematics, 20.4% were in the two lowest proficiency categories, while another 39.6% reached only the next category, called Proficient 1. Together, those groups account for the 60% below the curriculum's minimum expectations. About 40% reached the required standard, and just 12.9% reached the highest two categories.

Nepal's basic education net enrolment rate has reached 97.7%, meaning almost all children of the appropriate age are enrolled in Grades 1 through 8. Community schools educate roughly two thirds of the country's students. For families unable to afford private education, their performance shapes children's chances of continuing their studies and gaining useful skills.

The evidence points to several connected problems: weak foundations in reading and arithmetic, uneven teacher deployment, limited preparation for school leaders, and management that can give buildings and staffing decisions more attention than teaching.

Weak foundations follow children into later grades

The difficulties begin well before Grade 10. The 2020 national reading and numeracy assessment found that 10.2% of Grade 3 students could not read a single word correctly. Only 43.5% reached the expected reading level, and 37.2% reached the expected mathematics level.

Among Grade 8 students assessed in 2020, 32.1% achieved basic competency in mathematics. The corresponding shares were 37.7% in science, 58.8% in Nepali and 51.1% in English. Mathematics achievement had fallen by 17 assessment points compared with 2017.

The Grade 10 findings show a more mixed picture over time. Compared with 2019, the Education Review Office recorded gains of 4.83 points in science and about 15 points in English, alongside a decline of 1.28 points in Nepali. Mathematics was assessed on a new scale because too few suitable questions were shared between the two tests to measure change reliably.

Each assessment uses standards suited to its grade and subject. A child struggling to read in Grade 3 and a teenager struggling with Grade 10 mathematics need different teaching support, but both need teachers to identify missing skills before moving to more demanding work.

Local examinations expose the classroom consequences

In Panchakanya Rural Municipality, Nuwakot, only 52 of 170 students from 20 community schools passed the Grade 5 annual examination in 2082 BS. The pass rate was 30.6%, and five schools recorded no passes.

In Bhumikasthan Municipality, Arghakhanchi, 94 of 458 students from 21 community schools passed the Grade 8 examination, a rate of 20.52%. All 12 candidates from Lamchi Basic School failed.

Bal Chandra Luitel, dean of Kathmandu University's School of Education, connects such results with schools waiting until the annual examination to discover how much children have learned. He argues that assessment and help should be part of ordinary teaching.

Teaching students, assessing their learning, and giving feedback for improvement should be a daily activity. But here we still have the old habit of testing only at the end, and that is why results have slipped.

Continuous assessment means checking understanding during lessons, identifying mistakes and helping children correct them. It requires more than allowing students to advance to the next grade. A child who moves ahead without mastering reading or arithmetic faces increasingly difficult lessons with the same gaps.

What the budget buys, and where resources are stretched

The Rs 211.17 billion education allocation covers a much wider system than community schools, including higher education, administration and other programmes. School spending must therefore be examined through the money and support actually reaching classrooms.

Teacher salaries account for about 61.3% of education spending in the budget breakdown cited in the national debate. Salaries sustain the teaching workforce, while reading materials, professional development, classroom assessment and extra help for struggling children also require funding.

The distribution of schools adds pressure. Ministry education statistics for 2080 BS list 27,990 community schools, of which 15,965 had fewer than 100 students. That is about 57%, or nearly three in five. Each still needs a minimum level of staffing, administration and building maintenance.

A school in Khotang reportedly had nine students and two teachers without training, illustrating how small enrolments can coexist with weak teaching support. Elsewhere, schools face shortages of teachers for particular subjects. A national student to teacher average can conceal both situations.

Consolidating small schools requires practical arrangements for children who would have to travel farther. Transport, accommodation where necessary, and safe access matter especially in remote communities. Any savings need to be weighed against the risk that a longer journey pushes children out of school.

School leadership is a missing part of the investment

More than 40% of community schools lack a principal serving full time, according to figures attributed to the education ministry's Flash Report 2082. Senior teachers may take charge while also teaching, sometimes without preparation in administration, child development or working with families.

A principal's responsibilities extend beyond paperwork. They include organising timetables, ensuring lessons take place, helping teachers improve, tracking attendance and responding when students fall behind. Those tasks become harder when leadership is temporary or authority is uncertain.

In Chitwan, monitoring by the Education Development and Coordination Unit found that some school management committees concentrated on construction and staff appointments, transfers and promotions rather than educational quality. The district has 325 community schools, 165 institutional schools and seven religious schools.

Krishna Chandra Pokharel, the unit's chief, began monitoring after taking office on Bhadra 21. Teachers and principals requested classroom observation and technical assistance. The unit was preparing a team including specialists, coordinating with local governments and forwarding findings to the relevant authorities. No completion date was given for that team.

Pokharel also said he had not experienced political interference during the monitoring. His account shows teachers asking for practical assistance with classroom problems, alongside the need to clarify management committees' responsibilities.

Teacher management needs support and accountability

Community schools employ teachers under several arrangements, including permanent appointments, temporary contracts, relief positions known as Rahat, and posts financed from schools' own resources. These arrangements can give people doing similar classroom work different pay protections and career prospects.

Figures attributed to a ministry report put the workforce at 180,103 teachers, including 89,214 permanent teachers and 90,889 under other arrangements. On that count, just over half worked outside permanent posts.

Descriptions of teacher management also point to staffing allocations rooted in student numbers from 2047/48 BS, roughly 1990/91. Migration and changing settlement patterns have since altered where children attend school, leaving some areas with more staff than enrolment would suggest and others short of teachers.

Political influence over appointments, transfers, management committees and principal selection is a recurring complaint. Its nationwide extent has not been measured in a verified national study. The concrete governance concerns include selection by seniority without management preparation, limited authority for principals, and uneven scrutiny of classroom duties.

Permanent teachers include staff who have passed Teacher Service Commission selection and completed professional training. Improving results therefore requires attention to deployment, working conditions, teaching practice and fair performance review, alongside recruitment. Teachers who struggle need useful training and a chance to improve, while persistent failures require action through lawful procedures.

The assessment points to feedback, time and safety

The Education Review Office's mathematics findings help identify what deserves closer attention inside schools. Students whose teachers managed classroom time properly had an average score of 501.15, compared with 472.27 where time was poorly managed, a gap of 28.88 assessment points.

Students with regularly present teachers scored 500.47 on average, compared with 484.36 where teachers were irregular. Frequent feedback on homework was also associated with higher scores. Giving homework more frequently, by itself, showed almost no difference: averages were 500.29 for frequent homework and 500.13 for no homework.

The practical lesson is to examine how teachers use lessons and respond to mistakes. Assigning more work is different from helping a child understand why an answer is wrong and how to solve the next problem.

Safety also belongs in the discussion. Among students represented in the report's bullying analysis, 58.8% experienced at least one form of bullying. Their average mathematics score was 492.96, compared with 505.48 among those reporting none. Household chores and paid work were also associated with lower mathematics achievement.

Geography and language shape who gets left behind

Karnali recorded the lowest provincial mathematics mean in the Grade 10 assessment, at 472.28, compared with 517.17 in Bagmati. Students in rural municipalities averaged 479.57, while those in municipalities averaged 507.76.

Madhesh presents a different combination of problems. It has the greatest concentration of children outside school, yet its mathematics mean among assessed Grade 10 students was 505, above the national mean of 500. Reaching children who are absent and improving learning among those enrolled require attention to different groups.

Discussions organised through Principal Association Nepal in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa brought together principals, teachers, students, elected representatives and municipal education staff. They focused on school conditions and management challenges, placing local administration alongside classroom teaching in the improvement effort.

Language is another concern. Some community schools have switched to English in response to parental demand, even where teachers lack sufficient command of the language. In mathematics and science, children may then struggle with both the concept and the words used to explain it.

Teaching through a language children understand, with teachers able to explain the subject accurately, is central to learning. An English label on a school cannot replace that work.

Staying enrolled is another unfinished task

Of 1,053,824 children enrolled in Grade 1 in 2073 BS, 621,848 were recorded in Grade 8 in 2080 BS. That amounts to about 59% progressing to Grade 8 within the expected period. Grade repetition forms part of this pattern, alongside children leaving school.

Separate retention figures put the share staying through Grade 8 at 86.5%, through Grade 10 at 66.9%, and through Grade 12 at 39.3%. Household labour, early marriage and financial hardship place particular pressure on poorer families, Dalit children and marginalised communities.

The assessments and school records trace the problem across several years:

• 2017 to 2020: Grade 8 mathematics achievement fell by 17 assessment points.
• 2020: Grade 3 testing found that 10.2% of students could not read a word correctly.
• 2023: Grade 10 testing found about 60% below minimum curriculum expectations in mathematics.
• 2082 BS: Local examinations in Panchakanya and Bhumikasthan recorded pass rates of 30.6% and 20.52% respectively.
• 2025/26: The education ministry received an allocation of Rs 211.17 billion.

For local governments, keeping children in school involves working with families as well as schools. Scholarships, help with attendance and support for children carrying heavy domestic responsibilities can address pressures that a classroom lesson alone cannot resolve.

Successful community schools offer practical lessons

Results vary sharply even within the same municipality. In Ghorahi, Jajuragaun Secondary School recorded an SEE pass rate of 84.3%, compared with a community school average of 39.34%. At another school in the municipality, only eight of 66 candidates received grades.

In Doti, Sitaram Secondary School passed 41 of 45 students, while five community schools recorded no passes. These gaps direct attention to how individual schools organise teaching and support students.

A Kathmandu University study of successful public schools in Chitwan identified academic leadership by principals, clear teacher responsibilities, parental participation, active students and regular assessment as major features of success. Those are practices that other schools can examine and adapt.

Dhangadhi's community school Grade 8 pass rate rose from 9.47% in 2079 BS to 50.06% in 2082 BS. Teacher training, technology, infrastructure and active municipal involvement were cited as reasons. Independent learning assessments would give the municipality a consistent measure of the skills behind those examination results.

The reform proposals under discussion follow a practical sequence: assess basic reading, writing and arithmetic within three to six months; improve teacher recruitment and principal selection over one to two years; and provide sustained foundational learning support over two to five years. These are proposed timetables, rather than announced government deadlines. Their shared aim is to make each school's response to learning gaps visible and measurable.

Key Points

• Nepal allocated Rs 211.17 billion to its education ministry for 2025/26.
• The 2023 national assessment found about 60% of Grade 10 students below minimum mathematics expectations.
• Nearly 57% of community schools had fewer than 100 students in ministry statistics for 2080 BS.
• Assessment findings link better results with teacher attendance, effective lesson time, feedback and freedom from bullying.
• Local success stories highlight school leadership, clear responsibilities, family participation and regular assessment.
• Reform proposals call for early learning checks, better staffing and leadership, and sustained help for struggling children.