Education

Education in Nepal: FIVE FACTS

Children from poor families are often forced to quit school.

Less than 10% of children from the lowest Dalit caste will complete their schooling because they have to help their families with farming work, or have to walk long distances to attend classes.

The education of girls is still not a priority in some households.

31% percent of girls are engaged in child labour, compared to 19% of boys. Access to education decreases when girls come from low castes or disadvantaged ethnic groups.

Family needs often trump the need for education.

Between the ages of 11 and 16 there is a massive school drop out rate. In total, there are more than 770,000 out-of-school children aged 5 to 18.

Untrained teachers can damage life prospects.

Inadequately trained teachers and insufficient materials are major obstacles to a quality education. Across two of the schools surveyed, only 50% of teachers are trained. By the end of secondary school, 63% of students are highly unlikely to have the skills to be engaged in gainful jobs.

Schools themselves may be an obstacle.

At school, Nepali children are affected by the poor condition of basic facilities such as classrooms, toilets and a lack of clean drinking water. During their research our partner came across children who stated that unsafe toilet facilities ‘forced [them] to go to open places’ instead.