was reported to be 48.2% (female: 34.6%, male: 62.2%) in the Population Census, 2001, up from about 5% in 1952/54. Beginning from about 300 schools and two colleges with about ten thousand students in 1951, there now are 26000 primary schools, 7300 middle schools, 4400 secondary schools, 800 higher secondary schools and six universities with constituent and affiliated campuses. Many academic programs of Nepal are now on a par with Asian standards and some like forestry, medicine and engineering have excelled and reached the world class.

Despite such examples of success, there are problems and challenges. Educational management, quality, relevance, access are some of the critical issues of education in Nepal . Societal disparities based on gender, ethnicity, location, economic class, etc. are yet to be eliminated. Resource crunch has always been a problem in education. Due to all these problems, achieving the universal goal of Education for All has been a challenge for the country. With national as well as international support, the government is committed to address the issues realistically and efficiently and achieve its goals and objectives.

Structure of Education

Education in Nepal is structured as school education and higher education. School education includes primary level of grades 1-5, lower secondary and secondary levels of grades 6-8 and 9-10 respectively. Pre-primary level of education is also available in certain areas. Six years of age is the prescribed age for admission into grade one. A national level School Leaving Certificate (SLC) Examination is conducted at the end of grade ten. Grades 11 and 12 are considered as higher secondary level. Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) supervises higher secondary schools which are mostly under private management. Previously these grades were under the university system and were run as proficiency certificate level. Some universities still offer these programs. However, the policy now is to integrate these grades into the school system.

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

Legally, there are two types of school in the country: community and institutional. Community schools receive regular government grant whereas institutional schools are funded by school's own or other non-governmental sources. Institutional schools are organized either as a non-profit trust or as a company. However, in practical terms, schools are mainly of two types: public (community) and private (institutional). A third type of school is the schools run by the local people enthusiastic towards having a school in their localities. They do not receive regular government grants and most of them do not have any other sustainable financial source. Supported and managed by the local people, they can be thus identified as the real community schools.

Except one, all universities/academies are publicly managed and are supported by public source fund. However, public universities also provide affiliation to private colleges. Two academies of higher education are single college institutes whereas other universities have constituent and affiliated colleges across the country. Never!

Education Administration

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

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

List of Universities in Nepal

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

The first new university that was established was Mahendra Sanskrit University . The inception of this university was soon followed by Kathmandu University which, unlike Tribhuvan University or Mahendra Sanskrit University , is an institution of higher education founded by the private sector.

Currently there are six universities in Nepal :