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

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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

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND FOREWORD

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CONTENTS

Executive Summary ii

Acknowledgments and Foreword iii

Contents iv

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

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

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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 Education30

5.1 Introduction 30

5.2 Goal and objectives 32


5.4 Strategies 33



5.7 Key Results 36

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 andVocational Education (TVE) Stream 49

6b.1 Introduction 49

6b.2 Goals and Objectives 49

6b. 3 Policy Directions 49

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6b. 4 Strategies 49

6B.5 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries 50

6b.6 Key Performance Indicators 50

6b.7 Key Results 50

7 Non-Formal Education and Lifelong Learning 52

7.1 Introduction 52

7.2 Goal and Objectives 52


7.4 Strategies 53



7.7 Key Results 54

8 Cross Cutting Priorities and Priorities 56

8.1 Teacher Management and Professional Development 56

8.2 Governance and management 61

8.3 Capacity Development 64

8.4 Disaster Risk Reduction and School Safety 66

8.5 Monitoring, Evaluation and Assessment 69

8.6 Examination and Accreditation 72

8.7 International Economic Cooperation and Coordination 74

9 Financing 78

9.1 Introduction 78

9.2 Objectives 78


9.4 Strategies 78

9.5 Education Expenditure 79

9.6 Allocations within the education budget 82

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9.7 Funding modalities and flows 83

9.8 Financial Management and reporting 83

References 85

Annexes 88

Annex 1: SSDP Logical Framework 89

Annex 2: SSDP Result Framework 93

Annex 3: Growth Scenarios for Nepal’s Education Sector 127

Annex 4: Sub sector/ thematic breakdown of SSDP budget cost 128

Annex 5: School Education Sector Institutions in Nepal 138

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ASIP Annual Strategic Implementation PlanAWPB Annual Work Plan and BudgetBS Bikram Sambat (Nepali Calendar — official Nepali date system)CAS Continuous Assessment SystemCB-EGRA Classroom-based EGRACBO Community Based OrganisationCBS Central Bureau of StatisticsCDC Curriculum Development CentreCLA Central Level AgenciesCLC Community Learning CentreCPD Continuous Professional DevelopmentCSO Civil Society OrganisationCSS-DRR Comprehensive School Safety and Disaster Risk ReductionCSSP Community School Support ProgrammeCwD Children with DisabilitiesDEO District Education OfficeDoE Department of EducationDRM Disaster Risk ManagementDRR Disaster Risk ReductionECCD Early Childhood Care and DevelopmentECD Early Childhood DevelopmentECDC Early Childhood Development ClassesECED Early Childhood Education Development EFA Education for AllEGRA Early Grade Reading AssessmentELDS Early Learning and Development StandardsEMIS Educational Management Information SystemEOP End of ProjectERO Education Review OfficeESPIG Education Sector Program Implementation Grant (GPE)ETC Education Training CentreFCS Foreign Coordination SectionFMAP Financial Management Action PlanFMR Financial Monitoring ReportFNCCI Federation of Nepal Chambers of Commerce and IndustryGER Gross Enrolment RatioGESI Gender Equity and Social InclusionGIR Gross Intake RateGIS Geographical Information SystemGoN Government of NepalGPE Global Partnership for Education

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HSE Higher Secondary EducationHSEB Higher Secondary Education BoardHSLC Higher School Leaving CertificateI/NGO International NGO and NGOICT Information and Communication TechnologyIE Inclusive EducationIEMIS Integrated EMISIT Information TechnologyJFA Joint Financing ArrangementJICA Japan International Corporation AgencyLDC Least Developed CountryLDE Local Department of EducationLLL Lifelong Learning LRC Lead Resource CentreMDG Millennium Development GoalsMEC Minimum Enabling ConditionsMGML Multi Grade-Multi LevelMoE Ministry of EducationMoFALD Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local GovernmentMoHP Ministry of Health and PopulationMoU Memorandum of UnderstandingMoWCSW Ministry of Women, Children and Social WelfareMToT Master Training of TrainersNASA National Assessment for Student AchievementsNCED National Centre for Education DevelopmentNDHS Nepal Demographic and Health SurveyNEB National Education BoardNEGRP National Early Grade Reading ProgramNER Net Enrolment Rate NFE Non-formal EducationNFEC Non-formal Education CentreNGO Non-government OrganisationNIR Net Intake RateNLSS Nepal Living Standards SurveyNLSS Nepal Living Standards SurveyNPC National Planning CommissionNQF National Qualification Framework NVQF National Vocational Qualifications Framework OAG Office of the Auditor GeneralOCE Office of Controller of ExaminationsPMEC Priority Minimum Enabling ConditionPPC Pre-primary CentrePPE Pre-primary Education PTA Parent Teacher AssociationSDG Sustainable Development Goal

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SESP Secondary Education Support Programme SIP School Improvement PlanSLC School Leaving CertificateSMC School Management CommitteeSSDP School Sector Development PlanSSDS School Sector Development StrategySSRP School Sector Reform PlanSTR Student-Teacher RatioSWAp Sector Wide ApproachTEP Teacher Education ProjectTESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other LanguagesTEVT Technical Education and Vocational TrainingTPD Teacher Professional DevelopmentTSC Teacher Service CommissionTVE Technical and Vocational EducationUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,UNFPA United Nations Population FundUNICEF United Nations Children FundUSAID United States Agency for International DevelopmentWFP World Food Programme

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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

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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

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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).

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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

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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

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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:

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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

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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3.3 Methodology

3.4 SSDP Key Performance Indicators

SSDP Sub sector/ Thematic area Indicators

Current Status (2015/16)

3 year target (2018/19)



PPC/ECED

GER IN ECED/PPC 81a 90 94 96% of PPC/ECED teachers with required qualification 42.16 a 75 95 100% of PPC/ECED teachers with one month training 0 50 75 100% of grade 1 new entrants with ECED experience 62.4 a 78 86 90

Basic Education

Gross Intake Rate in Grade 1 136.7 a 125 115 110Net Intake Rate in Grade 1 93.9 a 95 97 100GER of basic (Grades 1-5) 135.4 a 125 115 102NER of basic (Grades 1-5) 96.6 a 98.5 100 100GER of basic (Grades 1-8) 120.1 a 115 112 110NER of basic (Grades 1-8) 89.4 a 94 97 100GPI in NER in Basic (Grades 1-8) 1 a 1 1 1Survival Rate for Grade 8 Completion rate for basic level 69.7 a 80 85 90% of out-of school children in basic level (age 5-12) 11.3 a 6 3 0Students’ Learning achievement scores (%) in Grade 5 Math 48.3 b 53 57 60

English

46.8 b 50 55 60

Nepali 46.3

b 55 60 65Students’ Learning achievement scores (%) in Grade 8 ( based on NASA) Math: 35 c 55 58 62 Nepali: 48 c 57 60 65

Science: 41

c 50 55 60

Secondary Education

GER in Grades 9-10 75.1a 90 95 98GER in Grades 9-12 56.7 a 80 85 90NER in Grades 9-10 57.9 a 85 90 95NER in Grades 9-12 37.7 a 45 55 60Survival rate to Grade 10 37.10 a 50 65 75GPI in NER in Grades 9-12 0.99 a 1 1 1Transition rate from Grade 8 to 9 93 a 95.38 98.0 100Number of 0 200 500 1000

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SSDP Sub sector/ Thematic area Indicators

Current Status (2015/16)




model/comprehensive schoolsNumber of students enrolled in technical subjects in grade 9-12 9750 a 72,540 102600 126,600

Non-formal Education and Life Long Learning

Literacy rate 6+ 65.9 d 80 85 90Literacy rate 15-24 87.5 e 93 95 98

Literacy 15+ 57 f 65 72 80Teacher 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, 2015/16b. ERO (2016). NASA Report 2016, c. (2016). NASA Report 2015, d. CBS (2011). National Statistics Report,e. NPC (2070). 13th planf. CBS (2011). NLSS Report

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 learning32,000 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 IndicatorsECED Percentage of grade 1 new entrants with ECED experience

Number of ECED facilitators with required qualificationNumber of ECED facilitators with one months’ trainingGER 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.

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f Expansion of ECED services in unserved areas through partnerships with CSOs and private sectors 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

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development

3. Effective governance and management system

A central level joint committee is formed to coordinate inter-ministerial functions, roles and responsibilities, linked to Joint committees are formed at the district level to monitor and oversee the governance and management of ECED.

Directives and guidelines for ECED management are prepared through a joint committee consisting of MoE and MoFALD.

Management guidelines to be prepared and enforced based on which MoUs are signed between government and non-government entities to mitigate overlap and duplication of ECED services.

1.3 Increased accountability of local government for provision of ECED within their jurisdiction

A Local government is mandated with appropriate norms, regulations and guidelines to expand, monitor, and regulate PPC/ECED programmes in their communities.

B District level PPC/ECED management committees is established and operational in all districts

C An MoU is signed between DoE and local government – for cost sharing and technical inputs with a clearly defined responsibilities and accountability chain

D A joint monitoring, supervision, and sharing mechanism is developed

E The mandatory participation of parents in ECED management teams

F Biannual public hearing programmes are held to share ECED progress and future plans.

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5 BASIC EDUCATION

5.1 Introduction

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.

However, the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) notes that where overall progress in access has been observed, Students from disadvantaged groups remain ‘disproportionately affected’ in terms of low access and high repetition and drop-out rates (MoE 2016). While the difference between boys and girls in quality and efficiency indicators may seem insignificant, girls consistently perform less well than boys and are more likely to dropout and repeat across all grades. This indicates systematic barriers that are preventing girls from benefitting from enabling learning conditions, compared to boys. With regard to caste/ethnic based disparities in learning outcomes, only 23.1 percent of Terai Dalits are literate, compared to 80 percent of Terai Brahmans/Chhetris. In addition to efficiency problems evident in high repetition and low survival rates, student career and college readiness indicators reflect wide problems in the education sector’s external efficiency. When children face multiple drivers of inequity (for example Dalit girls in the central Terai or children with disabilities living in remote areas), these disparities increase exponentially (MoE 2014).

Now that access to basic education has been almost achieved, improving quality and equity in basic education is now the priority agenda. Student achievement has been a major problem in all levels of education in Nepal. In 2013/2014, on average, 48 percent of students (51 percent of Grade 5 students, and 52 percent of Grade 8 students) did not achieve the grade level in science, maths, or English (ERO 2012). The trend data shows that the challenges do not seem to have changed significantly in 2011, 2012, and 2013 and the challenges are more exacerbated for disadvantaged groups.

Education is critical in empowering and transforming the lives of young people, especially girls, yet widespread gender-based violence in and around schools can seriously undermine the achievement of quality, inclusive and equitable education for all children. Violence and abuse can have seriously negative effects on children’s health and well-being and their ability to learn to their full potential. School-related gender-based violence2 can harm school participation, learning levels and completion rates, and raises barriers to gender equality in education and the wider society (UNESCO 2015). Furthermore, child marriages still prevail in certain areas and community groups, having been identified as one of the core barriers for girls to retain and complete their education, as well as their main health and livelihood outcomes (MoE 2014). The

2School-related gender-based violence is defined as “acts or threats of sexual, physical or psychological violence occurring in and around schools, perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes, and enforced by unequal power dynamics.

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SSDP envisions a school system that is safe and inclusive for all children with the capacity and systems in place to adequately prevent school-related gender-based violence and respond to mitigate the impacts when it does occur; ensuring accountability when incidence of violence occur in and around schools. This will need to be a multi-sectoral effort, involving colleagues and counterparts across education, health, youth and social welfare sectors and ministries as well as at the community level.

Children with disabilities, and those from poor households, remote areas, low castes and disadvantaged ethnicities are mostly affected by the access gap. There are 770,000 out of school children between age 5 and 18. More than 105,000 of the estimated 179,000 children with disabilities are out-of-school. Students from marginalized groups are also disproportionately affected by high repetition rates. While the difference between boys and girls in quality and efficiency indicators may seem insignificant, girls consistently perform less than boys and are more likely to dropout and repeat across all grades. This indicates the systematic barriers that exclude girls from enabling learning conditions (compared to boys). With regard to learning outcomes, only 23.1 percent of Terai Dalits are literate compared to 80 percent of Terai Brahmans and Chhetris. In addition to efficiency problems evident in the high repetition and low survival rates, student career and college readiness indicators reflect wide problems in the external efficiency of the education sector.

Unemployment and underemployment are highest among tertiary education graduates, less high among secondary education graduates, lower among primary education graduates, and the least low among workers with less than primary education (World Bank 2013). This highlights the problems with student preparedness and also the limited ability of Nepal’s labour market to employ education graduates at salaries of a level that makes it worthwhile to investment in the long years of secondary and tertiary education.

Health is another key determinant in school enrolment as well as continued participation and educational attainment of students in school. The status of health and nutrition of school children needs further strengthening and linkage of health and nutrition services with schools. Overall, the impact of health and nutrition status to the learning achievement is getting less attention.

Analysts of the Nepal education sector have identified many factors that contribute to the systems’ many lingering problems. The demand side factors include the low awareness of parents and communities, which is tied to lack of capacity in school management committees and parent teacher associations (PTAs) to ensure that children receive quality education. On the demand side, MoE (2015) identifies system factors and teaching and learning factors that undermine the quality of education. Examples include the low instructional time allocated to teaching and learning Nepali languages; inadequate supervision of teachers, monitoring, and academic support; problems with teachers’ professional development; problems with educational accountability; assessments that are not focused on learning and outcomes; teacher-centred instruction; lack of a comprehensive approach to teaching reading; and multi-level classrooms with high disparities in reading levels.

The SSDP’s basic education thematic group identified the following ten priorities in basic education.

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Address decreasing budget allocation for basic education.

Ensuring that gender inclusive (girl-friendly) practices are implemented and gender based violence in schools is addressed through a systematic approach to promote equal access to education including learning opportunities that empower girls to succeed, and training opportunities for female teachers to serve as professional role models for girls.

Decreasing and ending all forms of discrimination based on caste and ethnicity.

Targeting scholarships to those who need them most.

Teaching in mother tongues as a medium of instruction, and building the logistical and teacher capacity to promote teaching in mother languages.

Providing appropriate water and sanitation facilities, including safe toilets that meet the needs of girls and individuals with disabilities.

Instituting school health and nutrition Programme (Mid-day meal) programmes in areas of extreme poverty and food insecurity.

Increase the knowledge of food, nutrition and health in schools and communities fostering an understanding of nutrition leading to enhanced cognitive abilities

Increase the knowledge of food, nutrition and health in schools and communities fostering an understanding of nutrition leading to enhanced cognitive abilities

Implementing child-friendly recommendations pertaining to inclusiveness, gender responsiveness, democratic participation, health safety and protection, and learner-centeredness;

Having quality relevant curricula that are regularly adjusted to suit the various abilities of students on the basis of reliable assessments.

Disaggregating EMIS data (including public/private disaggregation) to help understand the demographics and disability status of children in and out of school.

The institutionalization of support systems targeted at children with disabilities (CwDs) that includes early screening and interventions through closer coordination between health and education ministries; the provision of age appropriate support (birth to 3 years, 3 to 5, and 6 to 21); improving accessibility of educational services to CwDs; mainstreaming children with disabilities in general education classrooms; updating data about types of disability, their levels of severity, and their prevalence; updating teacher training programme to include special education, and addressing social stigma associated with disability.

Strengthening the establishment of child clubs as peer support mechanisms to increase education outcomes for children in the transition grades where the highest attrition takes place and expand and strengthen social networks that counter harmful social norms and support learners to stay in school.

5.2 Goal and objectives

Goal: Universal access to quality education through rights-based approach to all 5-12 year olds.

Objectives:

To ensure student readiness for secondary education with required learning competencies.

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To foster foundation skills such as literacy and numeracy and promote life skills and value-based education.

To impart early orientation on the national economy and harmony in socio-cultural diversity.


a) Eight years of free and compulsory basic education, comprising of grades 1-8, this level serves 5 to 12 year age children and is the primary responsibility of the State.

b) Develop regulations and mechanisms for financial and technical support to schools and establish set criteria for grade 1-3 and grade 1-5 basic education school models, in terms of minimum enabling conditions and facilities.

c) Full-fledged implementation of the Consolidated Equity Strategy to reduce disparities of access, participation and learning outcomes in basic education with reference to gender, disability, poverty, marginalised communities and children in remote locations.

d) Accreditation of formal, non-formal and informal learning to ease vertical and horizontal access to education through the National Qualification Framework (NQF), including the introduction of soft skills value-based education programmes linked with economic, social and cultural diversity.

e) Full-fledged implementation the National Early Grade Reading Program(NEGRP) and the development of a National Early Grade Math Program(NEGMP) to prioritize strengthening of reading and numeracy skills of students in the foundation years (grade 1-3) enabling further learning outcomes throughout the school education cycle.

f) Development of a policy for the medium of instruction and mother tongue education in early grades, and for schools to adopt a multi-lingual medium of instruction, as well as motivating schools that have established themselves as a English Medium to change to providing English as a subject

5.4 Strategies

Equity

a) Development of an annual Equity Strategy Implementation Plan (ESIP), as part of the ASIP/AWPB to strengthen relevance and targeting of support and incentive schemes, including tailored packages of sets of strategies and activities for targeted groups and regions and conditional cash transfer schemes and poverty cards, and mobile education in remote locations to reduce disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes.

b) As part of this, the appliance of the Equity Index to rank, analyse and compare prevalence, composition and trends of education disparities within and across district to strengthen equitable access, participation and learning outcomes and to strengthen awareness among local level stakeholders to strengthen need based school level planning.

c) Comprehensive mapping (including obtaining GIS code) of existing schools and development of criteria and guidelines to identify and prioritize locations for the establishment of new schools linked to the results of the school mapping. Different

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models (see description of units under ‘Quality’) available depending on the identified need.

d) Strengthening girls’ participation and completion at basic education level through ensuring a gender sensitive learning environment and district and school based support structures, including the strengthening of the national gender education and gender focal point network to address gender based violence in schools.

e) Strengthening monitoring of compliance with minimum quality standards and learning outcomes in traditional schools including Gumbas (Buddhist monasteries), Gurukuls (Vedic schools), and Madrasas (Muslim educational institutions).

f) Develop a long term inclusive education plan, based on expert/stakeholder consultation, including a strategy for special and residential schools to gradually transform into a resource centre that can serve clusters of inclusive mainstream school, strengthening of diagnostic and referral mechanisms for children with disabilities and development of education resources adapted to special needs.

g) Ensure that schools are safe spaces to learn and equip teachers and management with skills to identify and address bullying and harassment of/among students and staff in schools and by strengthen the grievance and complain referral system at school level.

h) Scale up School Health and Nutrition (SHN) activities, prioritizing schools in food deficient areas, including the continuation and need based expansion of school based nutrition programs, such as mid-day meals in the Karnali zone based districts.

i) Roll out of a nationwide tracking and monitoring of access, retention and completion of individual students through school based data collection (school based EMIS) uploaded in a central data base fully embedded within the Government’s EMIS supported by the introduction of a digital enrolment recording system to generate electronic IDs and establishment of online linkage with District Health Office (DHO) records on child births and deaths to reflect out of school children in EMIS.

j) Develop a specific component for the recovery of the Basic Education subsector from the impact of the 2015 earthquake as part of the overall recovery roadmap, including both hardware and software needs.

Quality

a) Ensure minimum enabling conditions in all public and institutional schools including infrastructure requirements, inclusive design, teachers and education resources, supporting schools on a needs basis monitored as part of the regular EMIS to meet their MECs based on Quality Framework, with priority given to those with the biggest need.

b) Establish alternative designs in line with approved guidelines and minimum enabling conditions and requirements, such as grade 1-3 and grade 1-5 models and implementation of multi-grade multi-level (MGML) education programmes in communities with less student population and remote geographic locations.

c) Ensure accountable, competent and qualifies teachers across the basic education cycle, prioritizing qualified subject (science & math) teachers for grade 6-8, in line with the student-teacher-ratio norms and with equitable representation of female teachers and

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those form ethnic minorities (see teacher management and professional development in chapter 9.1)

d) Strengthen teacher support structures and networks, such additional staffing of resource centres with 1-2 resource teacher to provide supervision and instructional support to teachers and the provision of volunteer teachers in grades 6-8, intermediate strategies to address the shortage of subject teachers, to support in teaching English, maths and science in return for credit hour certificates to count towards future employability in education, for teaching licenses, and in higher academic degrees.

e) Formulate the National Qualification Framework (NQF) for accrediting formal and alternative modes of learning including non-formal and informal learning.

f) Develop a National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for the entire school education cycle (grade 1-12), specifying the provisions for the development of local (and in time provincial) curriculum and including guidelines on the appliance of digital and interactive teaching-learning resources and integration of life-skills, soft skills and value based education.

g) Implementation of the NEGRP and the NEGMP3 in phase wise approach and formulation of standards for grade and level-specific learning competencies in grade 1-3 by CDC, including development of appropriate instructional design and materials are develop and adopted to meet language requirements based on the results of the assessments (EGRA and EGMA) under these programs. As a part of NEGRP, provide libraries and reading corners in schools to foster a reading culture.

h) Implementation of the policy for the medium of instruction and mother tongue education in early grades, and for schools to introduce trilingual medium of instruction as well as providing Nepali as a subject for children with a first language other than that, as well as providing schools that have established themselves as a English Medium and agree to return to providing English as a subject with additional education resources, including English reading materials.

i) Undertake regular national assessments of learning outcomes (NASA, EGRA, EGMA) in grade 1-3, 5 and 8 and inform SSDP implementation through ASIP/AWPB, NEGRP and NEGMP based on the analysis of status and trends of these assessments. (see Monitoring, evaluation and assessment in chapter 9.5)

j) Establish and strengthen child clubs at the upper basic education level in all schools to provide peer support networks for students to improve learning outcomes (including reading habits) and reduce attrition in the transition grades (6-8).

k) Based on the ICT master plan, develop an overall plan and timeline for assimilating ICT in a systematic manner to improve teaching and learning, with a phased approach which introduction of interactive classes and online modules, digital teaching-learning materials, such as digital libraries and videos for English, Science and Math for primary and upper basic level.

3as per the availability of additional funding

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Efficiency

a) Revisit the roles of the current resource centres and resource persons system and introduce resource teachers in centres on a pilot basis to strengthen monitoring and supervision focusing on teaching and learning support.

b) Develop a time bound action plan for the timely printing and distribution of textbooks at the beginning of the academic year, including the provisions for involvement of private sector to provide technical backstopping in printing of textbooks.

c) Strengthen need based SIP planning, including teacher and education stakeholders in the planning process and focused on ‘converting’ quality inputs at the school level into effective teaching and learning.


By the end of SSDP:

36 million 5-12 year age children have been enrolled in basic education.1,000 schools are equipped with an ICT package (internet, e-library, digital learning materials).28,000 schools provided with library corners and supplementary reading materials in Grades 1-3.365 integrated schools with resource classes for children with disabilities.34 special schools and eight residential schools for students with hearing impairments.10 mobile schools will be in operation in remote and mountain regions.Early grade reading programme is implemented nationally.25,000 schools implement classroom-based early grade reading assessmentsOver 5 million children annually have access to a full set of textbooks and supplementary reading materials.350,000 children receive Midday meals annually in 244 target districts and in all Karnali districts.

5.6 Key Performance IndicatorsBasic Education

GIR and NIR of grade 1GER and NER for basic education (Grade 1-8)GER and NER for basic education (Grade 1-5)GPI in NER in Basic (Grade 1-8)Improvement in the results of NASA for grades 5 and 8Survival rate for 8 % of out-of school children in basic level (age 5-12)Students’ learning achievement (NASA) scores (%) in Grade 5 in Math, English and NepaliStudents’ learning achievement (NASA) scores (%) in Grade 8 in Math, English and Nepali

5.7 Key Results

SSDP Key Results — Basic Education

1 Improved access and equity in basic education

1.1 All children aged 5-12 to be enrolled in Basic education

A Basic education is compulsory for all 5-12 year old children, as recorded in the education law and regulation.

B Local governments have develop their respective regulatory mechanisms, compiled in a regulatory framework at central level, to enforce compulsory basic education.

C Strengthened access to education through establishment of schools in line with eligibility criteria as

4Including 10 districts supported by WFP

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verified through comprehensive mapping against identified demand.

D Children with irregular attendance and drop outs of basic education are being retained/returned in basic education.

E Civil society organisations (CSOs) are mobilized to strengthen education attainment of children in areas with high disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes.

F Joint bodies at local level map children not in school and enrol them accordingly.

1.2 Full-fledged implementation of the equity strategy

A Reduced disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes of among and between groups of basic school aged children.

B Basic education schools have a gender sensitive and inclusive learning environment, including gender segregated toilets and sanitation facilities.

C Strengthened enrolment and retention among children initially identified as part of groups with low enrolment and completion rates in basic education through incentive schemes, including scholarships that are designed based on evidenced impact.

D Children of families that cannot bear the indirect cost of education are enrolled and retained through the provision of need based conditional grants to enrol and retain their children in basic education.

E Education facilities accommodate the mainstreaming of children with disabilities to the extent possible through the establishment of Special schools, Resource classes and inclusive schools.

F Education planners, implementers and stakeholders focus on addressing disparities in education outcomes at national, district and local level through awareness on status and trend informed by the appliance of the Equity Index.

1.3 Increased retention and completion through tracking of individual access, retention and completion within the school education sector M&E system

A Children are tracked through enrolment, retention and completion of basic education through a central database that is updated directly at schools level (CB-IEMIS)

B Analysis of trends and disparities with regard to access, retention and completion of children from different gender, ethnicity, geographical location, ability and socio-economic status allows for targeted and evidence based planning to reduce these disparities.

C Increased awareness on existing disparities among implementers and stakeholders at district and local level due to availability of composite indicators on disparities at these levels derived from the CB-IEMIS data base.

D Never enrolled and out of school children reflected in EMIS through linkage with DHOs database on child birth and death registrations.

2 Improved quality and relevance of basic education

2.1 Minimum enabling conditions are fulfilled in all community schools

A Reduction of disparities between the numbers of redefined minimum enabling conditions that basic education schools meet through targeted support based on their status.

B Accountable, competent and qualifies teachers across the basic education cycle, including qualified subject (science, math, English & Nepali) teachers for grade 6-8 and teachers specialized in early grade reading and math, in line with the student-teacher-ratio norms and with equitable

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representation of female teachers and those form ethnic minorities

2.2 Strengthened quality of basic education level curricula and instructional design

A School education National Curriculum Framework (grade 1-12) is developed and implemented, including integration of Soft-skills and values based education, and grade/subject wise definition and benchmarks of learning outcomes and competencies.

B Textbooks have been revised to meet learning objectives and to promote interactive and child-centred teaching and learning.

C Strengthened reading, writing and calculus proficiency for all children that complete grade 3 through the implementation of the National Early Grade Reading and Math Programs in all community schools.

2.3 Support structures to strengthen quality of teaching and learning

A Access to accredited online courses, interactive classes and digital education resources for students in higher basic level grades (6-8) in model schools and schools with supporting ICT facilities.

Strengthening of capacity of Resource Centres to support teachers’ professional development

B Strengthened retention and completion rates and improved earning outcomes through school based child clubs.

2.5 The Continuous Assessment System (CAS) is strengthened and effectively implemented

A The CAS is simplified – Especially the tools and processes are thoroughly reviewed and simplified to make its use less burdensome on teachers.

3 Strengthened efficiency in the provision and operation of basic education

3.1 Effective (re)location of basic school facilities

A Assurance of access to education within the approved STR norms and distance through effective restructuring of basic education.

B Provision of alternative basic education facilities meeting approved designs (such as grade 1-3, 1-5 and MGML design) to ensure access to quality education in through effective utilization of resources.

3.2 Timely access to basic education level textbooks

A Timely printing through involvement of private printers for technical backstopping as per the need to distribute textbooks to all basic education students within first two weeks of academic year.

B Open source access to Camera Ready Copies (CRCs) of all prescribed textbooks, along with curricula and teachers’ guides downloading and printing.

3.3 Strengthened school level planning and (financial) management capacity in basic education

A Increased efficiency through need based SIP planning, including teacher and education stakeholders in the planning process and focused on ‘converting’ quality inputs at the school level into effective teaching and learning.

3.4 Strengthened monitoring and accountability capacity in basic education

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6 SECONDARY EDUCATION5

6.1 Introduction

As discussed it in the previous chapter, there have been large improvements on enrolment, survival rates and in gender parity in basic education. These gains have some implications for secondary education. Enrolment in secondary education has also increased dramatically. Net enrolment has increased from only 17.3 percent in 1995 to 56.1 percent in 2015. Gross enrolment has increased from 28 percent in 1990 to 70.1 percent in 2014.

However, in enrolment, girls from the lowest wealth quintile and from Madhesi and Muslim communities are under-represented in secondary education. School leaving certificate (SLC) graduation rates have mostly remained below 50%. The situation in Grades 11 and 12 is no better. This suggests that the quality of education in general, specifically in public schools, is poor.

The SSDP’s secondary education thematic group identified the following current issues in secondary education:

The locations of secondary schools means they are not equally accessible to all students.

The low enrolment of students in some secondary schools.

Students in Grades 11 and 12 do not always get to study their preferred subjects.

Lack of necessary infrastructure to study subjects of interest.

Not enough prioritization of mathematics and science in the curriculum, which makes them inaccessible to most students.

Lack of sufficient pathways and bridges that enable students to shift from purely academic to practical and vocational streams and vice-versa.

The need to better target resources to those most in need of them help achieve the goal of free secondary education.

Expansion of private education can only be done based on need and demand as identified by the Government.

Inadequate supply of subject specialist teachers and head teachers with management skills.

Inadequate investment in continuous professional development for teachers.

Inadequate infrastructure making it difficult for secondary schools to achieve quality standards.

Inadequate facilities, equipment, and teacher training for vocational stream schools.

Low student achievement and high dropout rates indicating secondary schools’ low capacity to graduate students ready for a career or higher education.

The threat of shrinking funding because of reduced local funding sources after the declaration of free secondary education in, which is not balanced with sufficient government funds.

5Secondary education consists of two streams, such as general and technical and vocational. The discussion on technical and vocational stream has been included as sub-section later in this chapter.

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The need to reform the curriculum and textbooks to better align lower and higher levels, create multiple pathways for student learning, provide sufficient and relevant textbooks to support the vocational stream, and identify solutions to the low efficiency (external and internal) and effectiveness of instruction as evidenced in the high number of students who fail secondary school exams.

The lessons learned from the implementation of SSRP also suggest that serious efforts are needed to improve access and equity in secondary education. At the same time core subjects like maths, science and English have remained the tough subject for students as many fail in these subjects in their SLC examinations. SSDP therefore aims to build on lessons learned and to promote more focus on areas that are crucial in ensuring access, quality and relevance of education.

6.2 Goal and objectives

Goal: To produce competent and skilled human resource and to provide a sound foundation for tertiary education.

Objectives:

To make students ready for the world of work by developing skilled human resources.

To focus on access to education without compromising quality.

To provide options and accredited learning pathways for students between technical and general secondary education

To strengthen institutional links and transition to higher education

To prepare students to uphold and fulfil their civic duties.

Strengthening the quality of general secondary education by improving the teaching-learning of Math, Science and English and strengthen student achievements in grades 6, 7 and 8.


g) Four years of free secondary education, comprising of grades 9-12, which primarily serves 13 to 16 year age children.

h) Secondary education will comprise of two streams; a general stream and a technical-vocational education stream.

i) Full-fledged implementation of the Consolidated Equity Strategy to reduce disparities of access, participation and learning outcomes in secondary education with reference to gender, disability, poverty, marginalised communities and children in remote locations.

j) Accreditation of formal, non-formal and informal learning to ease vertical and horizontal access to education through the development of a National Qualification Framework (NQF), as well as a National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) including the introduction of soft skills value-based education programmes linked with economic, social and cultural diversity.

a) Basic and performance based allocation of resources (schools and teachers).

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b) Prioritization of strengthening quality in core subjects to trigger overall increased learning outcomes

c) Share governance and management responsibilities.

d) Grants to school - basic grant, special needs school grants, Large/model school grant

e) School are classified as secondary, model/comprehensive, and special needs, based on geographical coverage, population, subject offered, infrastructure, and inclusivity.

6.4 Strategies

Equity

a) Institute legal provisions and the regulatory framework to encourage various models of partnership to implement free secondary education.

b) Introduce cash transfers for students with low socioeconomic status to strengthen access and participation of these students in education.

c) Provide open and alternative, residential, and inclusive education to cater to the different learning needs of the population including those who are at risk such as street children, children with disabilities and children from marginalised groupssuch as Chepangs, Rautes, Badis, Musahars, Doms, Chamars, Dusadhs, Rajmamas and Kusundas.

d) Introduce programmes to support outstanding students on a merit basis.

e) Support to the poor students to continue with secondary education A pilot scheme of supporting grade 8 completers from the poorest households who would otherwise likely to drop out to continue with the secondary education – from grade 9 through 12. The number is about 1% of grade 8 completers.

f) Develop a specific component for the recovery of the Secondary Education subsector from the impact of the 2015 earthquake as part of the overall recovery roadmap, including both hardware and software needs.

g) Strengthen participation and completion of girls in secondary education

Quality

a) Introduce a broad National Qualification Framework, including vocational qualifications, to accredit certificates provided by different education systems such as open, alternative and informal learning to allow vertical as well as lateral entry from and within streams and levels of education.

b) Develop a National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for the entire school education cycle (grade 1-12), including guidelines on the appliance of digital and interactive teaching-learning resources and integration of life-skills, soft skills and value based education.

c) Review and reorient the secondary curricula to focus on basic maths and science, to orient and train students to become skilled human resources, to educate about civic duties and obligations to their families and society, and to make students competent scholars to join higher education.

d) Enforce quality standards by defining sets of minimum enabling conditions (MECs) to be met by public and institutional schools in order to operate secondary schools.

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e) Form partnerships and shared responsibility to meet the MECs in public schools.

f) improving teaching-learning of Science, language (Nepali and English) and Mathematics

g) Teach core skills such as critical thinking and collaboration in the curricula.

h) Institute regulatory provisions and a comprehensive support scheme for schools operating both general and vocational streams of secondary education.

i) Provide teacher management and professional development support (elaborated under ‘Cross cutting issues).

j) Introduce support packages to improve underachieving schools.

k) Carry out annual reviews of schools’ operations and management standards through performance audits to ensure accountability.

l) Develop and implement national langue policy

m) Introduce subject specific classroom teaching

Efficiency

a) Institute the demand based allocation of large, residential and model schools.

b) Introduce and implement regulatory provisions and institutional arrangements to operate a technical-vocational education programme.

c) Introduce the demand-based distribution of subject-specific schools under the technical-vocational stream.

d) Institute an accountability and performance audit system to award and regulate secondary schools.

e) Develop instructional design in collaboration with established business houses and industrial sectors to foster entrepreneurial skills and on-the-job training including apprenticeships to students.

f) Review and consolidate technical–vocational curricula in the secondary level curriculum (classes 9 to 12), in collaboration with the private and public sectors.

g) Reallocation of secondary schools based on GIS mapping

Transition to tertiary education

a) Support to the outstanding students among SLC passers to continue with grades 11 and 12 Out-standing students from among the SLC completers securing above 90% would be selected for this support to continue with grades 11 and 12.

6.5 Physical Targets/Beneficiaries7.6 million children receive four year of secondary education.300,000 students have been enrolled in technical education.1000 model/comprehensive schools equipped with ICT and with separate head teachers (HT) are in operation40 special schools with full residential and care services are operating for children with disabilities 54,000 Grade 8 graduates with poor economic conditions receive incentive support to enrol and continue secondary education.540 schools in technical subjects have been in operation.

6.6 Key Performance IndicatorsSecondary GER and NER in grades 9-12

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Education GER and NER in grades 9-10Improvement of NASA results in grade 10Survival rate in Grade 10GPI in Grades 9-12Transition rate from grade 8 to 9Number of model/comprehensive schools in operation Number of students enrolled in technical subjects in grade 9-12

6.7 Key Results

SSDP Key Results — Secondary Education

1 Improved access and equity

1.1 Implementation of the equity strategy

A Reduced disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes of among and between groups of secondary school aged children.

B Secondary education schools have a gender sensitive and inclusive learning environment, including gender segregated toilets and sanitation facilities.

C Strengthened enrolment and retention among children initially identified as part of groups with low enrolment and completion rates in secondary education (including girls, children with disabilities and working children) through incentive schemes, including scholarships that are designed based on evidenced impact.

D Education facilities accommodate the mainstreaming of children with disabilities to the extent possible through the establishment of Special schools (at least one per district), Resource classes and inclusive schools.

E Children of families that cannot bear the indirect cost of education are enrolled and retained through the provision of need based conditional grants to enrol and retain their children in basic education.

F Education planners, implementers and stakeholders focus on addressing disparities in education outcomes at national, district and local level through awareness on status and trend informed by the appliance of the Equity Index.

1.2 Expanded access to secondary education

a Strengthened access to education through establishment of schools in line with eligibility criteria as verified through comprehensive mapping against identified demand.

Provision of secondary education facilities meeting approved designs (such as grade 1-10, 1-12, and 9-12) to ensure access to secondary education in areas with different density of school aged children.

d Introduction of large schools with residential facilities in each district– Schools with potential to run the model programme are selected and upgraded based on school mapping and EMIS data. Minimum requirements and selection criteria are developed and applied.

e Introduction of specialized high schools – with at least one in each district, to focus on one major subject such as science, math, language, management or ICT. These schools operate in collaboration with relevant universities or affiliated colleges specializing in those subjects. Such universities or colleges will support schools technically to teach specialized courses. This is expected to enhance readiness and upward linkages of high school graduates.

1.4 Two streams of education introduced

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a General stream – to follow formal and structured model from Grades 9 through 12, allowing entry and exit at the end of Grade 10 and 12 with regional or national certification examinations.

b Technical and vocational stream – to follow multiple models offering one year, two year, three year and four year technical education and vocational training courses. School-based, annex programmes and apprenticeship programmes are implemented.

c National qualification framework (NQF) is developed and enforced - to assure vertical and lateral access from one stream to another. Embedded within the NQF, a national vocational qualification framework (NVQF) is developed and incorporated

1.5 Open schooling programme is strengthened and expanded

a Operating guidelines are reviewed and revised – to ensure norms and standards including quality and credibility of the open schooling programme and its certification.

b Accreditation and certification – through the NQF.

c Collaboration for online courses – with universities, colleges and registered institutions to offer online courses.

e Certification of online course providers – A joint committee consisting of CDC and NEB members to review and certify qualified and competent online course providers.

1.6 Scholarships and family subsidies

a Scholarship schemes are strengthened - Review and revisit current practices and challenges on effective distribution of scholarships.

b Poverty card is used - to identify and target families in need.

c Conditional cash transfers – Families living in poverty to receive grants to compensate their children for continuing basic education.

1.7 Student tracking is introduced

a Computerized enrolment is introduced – to be piloted in selected districts. This will generate electronic identification with barcode for each student. The barcode will carry student’s vital statistics.

1.8 Partnerships for expanding secondary education

a Guidelines with clearly defined norms and standards are introduced - for partnerships with private, public and CSOs.

2 Improved quality and relevance

2.1 Secondary education curricula is revised

a National curriculum framework for school education (1-12) is developed – the national curriculum framework, 2063 (CDC 2005) is revised in line with the Grade 1-12 school education system and covering both general and technical and vocational education.

b Benchmarks and learning competencies are defined for all subjects–including onsoft-skills, values-based education, employability, and higher education.

c National Qualification Framework is introduced – to acknowledge qualifications obtained through formal, non-formal, and open schools including TEVT programs.

d Textbooks are revised – Current textbooks in secondary grades are revised to align with new curricula and to meet their learning objectives.

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e Multiple textbooks are introduced – Schools to be able to choose locally appropriate textbooks from multiple sets approved by CDC.

f Open source and electronic access – All prescribed textbooks including curriculum and teacher’s guide to be made available for downloading and printing for own use.

2.2 Minimum enabling conditions fulfilled in all community schools

a MECs for secondary schools are redefined and ensured – for both formal and TEVT streams.

b School database is updated – Schools’ infrastructure conditions are regularly tracked and the names of schools not meeting MECs are published.

c Conditional grants for meeting MECS – Priority given in budget allocation for schools that meet MECs.

2.3 Promotion of self-learning

a Introduction of ICT based interactive classes – to be piloted in selected schools for specific subjects.

b Development of portals and websites - to be accessed using multiple electronic devices including computer and mobile phones.

c Introduction of e-libraries – with varieties of reading materials and reference links to national and international literature and learning materials relevant for school teachers, students and management teams.

2.4 Instructional design and technical support system strengthened

a Pedagogy (instructional design) is revised– to meet new learning objectives and competencies as defined in the curricula.

b Provision of resource teachers – In each resource centre 2–3 resource teachers are deployed to provide supervision and instructional support to school teachers.

c Provision of volunteer teachers — to support the teaching of English, maths and science. Best practices, such as ‘Teach for Nepal’ initiatives, are recognized and expanded to scale. Out-source voluntary services to build the capacity of school teachers and to fill in the gaps of science, math, and English teacher in secondary schools. Award credit hour certificates to volunteer teachers to be counted towards their employability in education, for teaching licenses, and in higher academic degrees.

2.5 The Continuous Assessment System (CAS) is strengthened and effectively implemented

a CAS is introduced– CAS, especially its tools and processes, are thoroughly reviewed and simplified to make their use less burdensome on teachers. Application of ICT in CAS is explored and piloted.

b Report card system is made mandatory in secondary grades – Based on CAS/periodic assessments, parents are informed of student’s performance.

c Linked with performance incentives– CAS results are linked with performance based incentives.

2.6 Assessment and examination reform

a Establishing minimum standards for achievement in key areas of each subject.

b Assessment framework developed for Grades 8, 10 and 12 that support desired learning including higher order and application based learning.

c Improve the quality of term tests and annual examinations by using standardized test items

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d Using analysis of results of school based assessments for identifying weaker students and arranging revision and remediation.

e Comprehensive reform of SLC and HSE examination (including standardized high quality test items)

f Implementing NASA in Grade 10

g Core and non-core and single subject certification for SLC and HSE.

h Setting up a National Examination Board as a highly professional body.

i Establishment of item pools, in which strong examination items are archived at the national and district levels.

Orientation for oral examiners for English exams

2.7 School performance

a Development and implementation of school performance index, and support packages for poorly performing schools and districts.

b Large secondary schools monitored regularly and their performance assessed with feedback for improvement.

2.8 Lead secondary schools

a Schools identified through mapping exercises.

b Inputs provided for whole school improvement:

i. Qualified subject teachers with induction and regular training in Grades 6-12.

ii. Other MECs implemented in a prioritized manner.

iii. Programme for improved teaching of English implemented in Grades 1-5.

iv. Science and Maths kits for Grades 6-8 implemented with training of teachers.

v. Mini labs for Grades 9-10 (one per constituency, 200 total).

vi. Science labs for Grades 11-12 (one per constituency, total 200).

vii. ICT based learning:

videos for difficult concepts in science, maths and spoken English

videos for science experiments for Grades 9-12

ICT enabled interactive learning and computer literacy labs.

viii. Scholarships for poor and disadvantaged students.

ix. Continuous teacher professional development strategies within schools and for feeder schools.

x. Full-time head teachers with authority and accountability.

xi. Improved school-based assessments including use of standardized test items for periodic tests and examinations.

xii. In-school revision and remediation programmes for less advanced students

xiii. Bridging programme at beginning of Grade 9.

xiv. Coaching for weak students for preparation for SLC (science and maths) and HSE.

xv. Cluster support activities for professional learning of subject teachers and head teachers of feeder schools.

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xvi. Improved school monitoring and assessment of school performance for model schools

2.9 Improved teacher performance

a Introduction of non-monetary incentives – to perform special functions such as teacher supervision, student assessment, local curriculum development.

b Teacher supervision – All newly recruited and upgraded teachers should work for one full academic cycle under the supervision of a senior and competent teacher. The supervisors must approve teachers’ performance as above satisfactory. Supervisors can also recommend for specific modular training if deemed necessary. Supervisors to receive non-monetary incentives.

c Teacher preparation course is reviewed and revised – focusing on core teaching competencies including science, maths and English teaching.

d Adequate teacher positions created in high schools (9-12).

e Programmes to attract highly qualified and competent teachers

f Non-monetary incentives leading to headships – linking teachers’ engagement in supervising new teachers, in local curriculum development, student assessment, and in training and professional development (TPD) with career and promotion opportunities.

g Separate head teachers – must have acquired specialization in a key competency area such as school/classroom supervision, student assessment, curriculum development, subject teaching.

h Teacher leadership skills development – with focus on strengthening capacity on assessment and evaluation, classroom supervision, curriculum development.

2.10 Programmes to enhance science, maths and English teaching

a Review and revision of curricular objectives and teaching and learning materials developed for maths, science and English.

b Extra support through volunteer teachers – in maths, English and science teaching (as discussed in 2.4c above)

c Creation of special teacher circles in districts- for consultation, supervision and teaching support in secondary schools. Incentives and logistics support based on number of consultations and facilitation.

d Special teacher preparation course is designed and implemented – to create strong teacher circles with qualified and competent teacher members in the circle.

e Teacher preparation course is reviewed and revised – focusing more on core teaching competencies including science, maths and English teaching.

2.11 Science and maths kits and labs

a Development of simple maths and science kits for Grades 6-8; distributed to 3000 schools in a phased way (with training of subject teachers).

b Development of science and maths kits for Grades 9-10, including teachers’ guides and activity handbooks and videos; distributed to 1000 schools (in phases) and training of subject teachers.

c Development of mini science labs for Grades 9-10. Implement in 200 science stream schools (one per constituency).

d Establishment of science (chemistry, physics and biology) labs for Grades 11-12 in 200 selected secondary schools (that have high enrolment in science stream). At least one per constituency.

2.12 Introduction of specialized schools (discussed in 1.3e)

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a All secondary schools are equipped with ICT facilities.

2.13 Large residential schools equipped with ICT as model schools – at least in every constituency and also on demand (discussed in 1.3d)

2.14 SLC focused programme is launched (to be incorporated from SLC strategy)

a Districts and schools with extremely low SLC performance are selected for high intensity programmes – volunteer teachers are mobilized in those schools and districts as a priority (see 2.4c)

b Centres with facilities for extra coaching and mentoring established – Centrally located schools and competent teachers are identified to provide coaching and mentoring to students in Grades 9 and 10. Online system is also explored and piloted.

c Safety and security of students during SLC examination – DEOs, in consultation with local security units, to identify safe and secure accommodation, especially for girls coming from a distance to appear in SLC exams. Better if the accommodation is made in a nearby school with a female secondary school teacher assigned as warden not only to oversee care but also to provide counselling and teaching assistance during exams.

3 Enhanced governance and management

3.1 Decentralization and school-based management

a SMC roles are clearly defined - each member is fully engaged in schools’ specific task and issues.

b SMC members are incentivized – to motivate them to improve their schools.

c SMCs are made accountable to their communities – for schools’ overall quality and performance through social audits and annual reviews.

d Separate and dedicated position of school head teacher – Head-teacher’s roles are defined as more managerial and supervisory that teaching support.

3.2 Strengthening monitoring and accountability system

a Use of ICT in student attendance and progress tracking (also at 1.7 above) – Piloting in 6 districts, student database with characteristics such as disability, and different learning needs. Rolling out school based IEMIS and student and school profiles in all districts, linked with EMIS. Schools and VDCs/municipalities to track out-of-school children.

B Early detection of school dropout is developed and piloted in schools

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6B. TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SUBJECT6

6This section is simply a sub set of the secondary education program that builds on school based curricula with soft and technical and vocational educational programs that doesn’t need heavy equipment and laboratories. In that regard this program does not replace the program and activities of CTEVT.

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6b.1 Introduction

Another area where the connection between DoE’s vision and existing programmes will need to be strengthened is technical and vocational education (TVE). The DoE envisions citizens who have a positive perception of labour, are oriented towards employment, and have the agency to be active citizens. To achieve this vision, community culture that views TVE as a path of second choice should change. The country has yet to have a vocational qualifications framework, even if recognition of the importance of such a framework began as early as the 1980s. Last, but not least, there is an urgent need to strengthen the TVE information management system.

6b.2 Goals and Objectives

Goal: Minimize poverty by promoting employable skills and producing skilled human resource to meet the developmental needs of the country and global market.

Objectives:

To mitigate unemployment.

To introduce programmes with high employability.

To produce skilled and semi-skilled human resource capable of earning decent incomes.

To produce the human resources required to meet the developmental needs.

6b. 3 Policy Directions

a) Ensure sufficient qualified teachers for the technical subjects of the secondary education

6b. 4 Strategies

Equity

a) Expansion of TVEprogrammes to communities with low socio economic status.

b) Provision of scholarships for students with low socioeconomic status.

c) Develop a specific component for the recovery of the school based TVET subsector from the impact of the 2015 earthquake as part of the overall recovery roadmap, including both hardware and software needs.

Quality

a) Introduce a broad National Qualification Framework including vocational qualifications to accredit certificates provided by different education systems such as open, alternative and informal learning to allow vertical as well as lateral entry from and within technical subjects and levels of education.

b) The promotion of apprenticeship programmes in partnership with local and national institutions specialized in key areas of technical and vocational skills.

c) Expansion of testing and certification centres to accredit vocational and technical skills earned through formal or informal modes.

d) Provide professional development support for TVE teachers.

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Efficiency

a) Institute the demand-based allocation of model TVE schools that have Grades 9-12.

b) Introduce and implement regulatory provisions and institutional arrangements to operate a technical-vocational education programme.

c) Introduce the demand-based distribution of subject-specific schools under the technical-vocational subjects.

d) Introduce programmes to support outstanding students on a merit basis.

e) Develop instructional design in collaboration with established business-house and industrial sectors to foster entrepreneurial skills and on-the-job training including apprenticeships to students.

f) Review and consolidate technical–vocational curricula in the secondary level curriculum (classes 9 to 12), in collaboration with the private and public sectors.

g) Introduce and implement regulatory provisions and institutional arrangements to operate a technical-vocational education programme.

6B.5 Physical Targets and Beneficiaries

By the end of SSDP: 263,250 children, youth and adults have received school based TVE programmes. 540 schools offer five specific TVE subjects. 14,634 teachers have received tailored TVE professional development as part of their pre- and their in service

training.

6b.6 Key Performance IndicatorsNumber of schools offering technical subjects

6b.7 Key Results

SSDP Key results — Technical and Vocational Education


1.1 Introduction of TVE programmes through school-based, non-school based and apprenticeship modes

a Expansion of TVE specialised schools (Grades 9-12) in each district.

b Strengthening existing annex programmes.

c Collaboration with the private sector (corporates and business house) and CSOs for TVE programme expansion.

d Identification of target groups and pocket areas for intensive TVE programmes.

e Packaged programmes to ensure access for CwDs, out-of-school children, and working youths and adults through need based support.

f Flexible programmes– in terms of location and time of operation.

g Vertical as well as horizontal linkage between general and technical subjects

2. Improved quality and relevance

2.1 Minimum standards of TVE operation and guidelines are reviewed and enforced

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a Reviewed and strengthening license for TVE operation and facilitation.

b Minimum requirements are fulfilled by all licensed TVE operators.

c Quality control and compliance mechanism is developed and enforced.2.2 Standardization and contextualization of TVE curricula

a Identification of the diverse learning needs of various groups.

b Review and revision of TVE curricula based on skill areas.

2.3 Institutional capacity building for expansion of technical and vocational education centres.

2.4 Introduction of National Vocational Qualification Framework —to accredit vocational and technical education as well as specific skills and competencies.

a Periodic survey of institutions.

2.5 Periodic review and revision TVE programmes.

a Regular market survey to determine emerging demand for specific skills in the job market.

b Adaptation of new skills in the curricula.

2.6 Strengthening institutional capacity – Developing institutional base at the district, regional and national levels by establishing networks of TVE related institutions. Extending support to enhance quality and capacity of TVE service providers.

2.7 Professional development training to TVE providing experts and facilitators

2.8 Standardization of TVE materials and training institutes

2.9 District level networks of TVE service providers are identified and their institutional capacity is strengthened.

2.10 Pool of expert trainers and facilitators are created in each district.

2.11 CSOs’ capacity is built to conduct TVE modules and packages.


3.1 Local government is empowered to manage TVE programmes

a Regulatory provisions necessary for locally based governance and management are developed and enforced.

b Local responsibility for implementation of regulatory provisions.

c Shared responsibility for programme financing.

3.2 Monitoring and assessment framework

3.3 Accountability mechanism

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7 NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING

7.1 Introduction

The Non-formal Education Centre (NFEC) mostly cater for adult literacy and out-of-school children through school out-reach programmes. Current literacy initiatives comprise programmes for basic, post-literacy and income generating activities, with a particular focus on women. For the delivery of literacy and lifelong learning programmes, community learning centres (CLCs) are employed as a major strategic intervention. In 2008, NFEC launched the National Literacy Campaign Programme (NLCP) to eradicate illiteracy in just three to four years. These programmes and activities show that the priority of NFEC remains literacy and it has yet to elevate its goal to lifelong learning and continuing education (NPC 2013b). However, non-formal education and lifelong learning has a greater role to play in education reform in Nepal in the light of high school dropout rates, the high number of out-of-school children, the large number of low skilled workers in Nepal, and the poor fit between tertiary education and labour market needs. The ability to adapt knowledge and skills to the needs of the labour market at home and abroad will significantly determine the extent to which Nepalese citizens can secure gainful jobs and break the cycle of economic vulnerability. Note that non-formal education beyond literacy programmes refers to training received through labour market programmes, on-the-job, professional associations, work experience, or volunteer organizations. Informal education comprises learning that comes as a result of participation in clubs, libraries, museums, family activities, playground activities, volunteering and so forth.

7.2 Goal and Objectives

Goal: To bridge the gap between formal education and the world of work including the promotion of career based and continuous learning for youths and adults.

Objectives:

Literate citizens with basic life-skills and competencies to live dignified lives.

Complement the national objective of ‘education for all’ by providing alternative and flexible modes of education.

Cultivate the reading and learning habit.


a) Literacy to all

b) Lifelong learning opportunity for populations with diverse learning needs.

c) Operate Non Formal education programs such as flexible and open school program through CLCs.

d) Career based programmes to mitigate gaps between education and employment.

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7.4 Strategies

Equity

a) Scale-up continuous education programmes by expanding libraries and community reading centres.

b) Introduce special programmes and packages for targeted groups (such as people with disabilities) and areas with a special focus on skills development and income generation.

c) Run targeted educational programmes for out-of-school children including those who are over age.

d) Community learning centers are made a main mechanism to operate lifelong learning and non-formal education. CLCs will receive funding for running flexible and open school programs based on the quality of their programs and the prevalence of out of school children in their catchment area.

e) Develop a specific component for the recovery of the Non Formal Education subsector from the impact of the 2015 earthquake as part of the overall recovery roadmap, including both hardware and software needs.

Quality

a) Deliver education through different modes on-demand including through formal, alternative and open schools

b) Develop and implement career-based programmes focusing on professional development support and work-related skills.

Efficiency

a) Empower local governments to design and develop, plan and implement literacy and post-literacy programmes in a coordinated way.

b) Launch national volunteer campaigns in collaboration with local governments and primary stakeholders such as organised civil society groups.

c) Introduce locally based mechanisms for monitoring and supervisory support.


By the end of SSDP:2,400,000 illiterate and neo literate will receive continuing education165,000 children in basic education will receive flexible education program primary equivalent, basic 6-8 grade equivalent, secondary level equivalent4242 CLCs have been in operation in communities providing continuing education. Open Basic and Secondary schools are in operation 160,000 Facilitators receive basic and refresher training.29694 income generation group will be formed

7.6 Key Performance IndicatorsSeparate qualification framework for lifelong and non-formal education is preparedLiteracy rate for 6+Literacy rate for 15-24Literacy rate for 15+

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7.7 Key Results

Key Results — Lifelong Learning and Continuing Education


1.1 Targeted programs – geography, and locations with high dropouts and out-of-school populations

A Diverse packages – for CwDs, out-of-school, and working youths and adults

B Flexible programmes– in terms of location and time of operation

C Incentives for income generation and household care – health, sanitation, childcare and nutrition

D Strengthening and mobilization of CLC.

E Transition to formal education - accreditation and equivalence

F Non-formal education programmes are strengthened and expanded – (discussed under literacy and lifelong learning, Chapter 8).

2. Improved quality and relevance

2.1 Minimum standards of NFE operation and guidelines are reviewed and enforced

A Provision of licenses for NFE operation and facilitation.

b NFE providing CSOs are identified and licensed by the Non-formal Education Centre (NFEC).

c Minimum requirements are fulfilled by all licensed NFE operators.

2.2 Standardization and contextualization of NFE curricula

a The identification of the diverse learning needs of various groups.

b The review and revision of curricula based on learning needs.

c Transition to formal education and accreditation of learning.

2.3 National Qualification Framework to include accreditation/equivalence of NFE programmes

2.4 Programmes to support functional literacy and numeracy skills

2.5 Professional career development courses bridging between academics and world of work

a Strengthening NFEC –to review and approve NFE curricula

b Formal education curricula, national or international, to be approved by Curriculum Development Centre (CDC)

c Non-formal curricula including bridge-course and training programmes of all kinds to be approved by NFEC

2.6 Strengthening institutional capacity – Developing an institutional base at local, provincial, and national levels by establishing a network of NFE related institutions. Extending support to enhance quality and capacity of NFE service providers.

2.7 Professional development training to NFE providing experts and facilitators

2.8 Standardization of NFE materials – by enhancing quality and consistency of materials used in NEF teaching and learning.

2.9 Local level network of NFE service providers are identified and their institutional capacity is strengthened.

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2.10 Pool of expert trainers and facilitators is created in each district/local bodies.

2.11 CSOs’ capacity built to conduct NFE modules and packages.

2.12 Online schooling programme is strengthened and expanded

a Operating guidelines are reviewed and revised – to ensure norms and standards including quality and credibility of the open schooling programme and its certification.

b Accreditation and certification – through the NQF.

c National Qualification Framework is introduced – to acknowledge qualifications obtained through formal, non-formal, and open schools including TEVT programs.


3.1 Local government is empowered to manage NFE programmes

a Regulatory provisions necessary for locally based governance and management of NFE programmes are developed and enforced.

B Local responsibilities are clearly assigned for enforcing regulations.

C Shared responsibility for NFE programme financing.

3.2 Monitoring and assessment framework

3.3 Accountability mechanism

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8 CROSS CUTTING PRIORITIES AND PRIORITIES

8.1 Teacher Management and Professional Development

Ensuring quality and needs based teacher professional development and performance based and accountable teacher management is one of the main elements in SSDP’s theory of change. With an investment of around 70% of the total SSDP budget, teacher salaries should be considered as the prime resource to establish quality education. Strong ownership of the programme among teachers’ professional organizations is key, even more with respect to the need to transform teacher management and professional development structure to accommodate the upcoming decentralization of the education system under the new federal system. With regard to teachers’ management, this will mean that the Teacher Service Commission at the federal level will continue to accredit and certify teachers, as well as monitor the criteria for the recruitment, appointment, and promotion of teachers at the provincial level. To ensure ownership, local bodies should participate in the recruitment and appointment of teachers.

With regard to teacher’s professional development, the role of education training centres (ETCs) at district levels will be further strengthened and professional development packages developed at provincial/district levels to allow contextualization, after which they will be approved at federal levels by the National Centre for Educational Development. During their tenure, teachers will return to the ETCs for in service and refresher training at set times and be linked with senior teachers to mentor and guide them in translating the obtained skills into practices in the classroom. Teachers will also be capacitated to undertake the continuous assessment for education within the classroom to ensure the strategies applied to unleash learning outcomes accommodate the needs and interests of students. Within the available in-service training and professional development, teachers will be encouraged to undertake regular self and peer assessments to identify their preferred professional development based on their competencies and needs.

Objectives

The provision of qualified competent teachers, including trained subject teachers in all secondary schools Ensure teaching-learning days and that teachers’ time on task is in line with government directives and guidelines.

Strengthen the quality of pre-service and in-service training in line with the Teacher Competency Framework

Establish a student centred and child friendly teaching culture

Maintain high morale and motivation for teaching and learning among teachers and students.

Policy directions

a) The management of teachers in line with the new constitutional mandate.

b) Attracting and retaining highly qualified and competent professionals in the teaching workforce.

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c) A balanced approach to recruiting teachers from under represented populations.

d) Regular refresher and capacity building of school teachers

e) Transfer of sufficient qualified teachers from basic to secondary education level, based on existing criteria, to accommodate need in obtaining envisioned STR and in terms of subject teachers

f) Redefine roles and responsibilities of among institutional arrangement that are established for teachers’ professional development, such as (L)RCs and ETCs.

g) Appointment of new permanent teacher at basic and secondary level based on existing need, instead of existing positions.

h) provision of mandatory induction training for all new recruitments needs

Strategies

Teacher management

a) Strengthen the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) to conduct licensing and to select candidates for school teacher positions. The TSC will make recommendations based on selected candidates as school teachers and local governments will appoint and deploy teachers to the appropriate schools.

b) Enforce teacher recruitment and performance assessment based on Teacher Competency Framework

c) Prioritise the recruitment of female teachers and teachers from targeted and marginalised groups until the minimum ratio is met.

d) Filling additional teacher positions to address the need at secondary level will be done based by first consuming the surplus of basic education teacher and then additional recruitment will be undertaken based on the identified need and deficit of secondary school level teachers.

e) Develop a strategy to allow effective teacher management through harmonization the many existing types of teachers and their service conditions.

f) Introduce provisions to attract bright graduates to fill at least five percent of vacant positions in the teaching profession in basic and secondary education including vocational subjects.

g) Introduce and enforce regulatory provisions to maintain teacher-pupils ratio in districts in order to ensure the equitable (re)distribution of teachers.

h) Develop a roadmap for the appointment of subject teachers in secondary education in a phased manner, including targets on number of teachers to be upgraded from basic level and additional subject teacher positions based on mapping of need at school level.

i) Regularize the intake of new teachers through the TSC to address the issues related to the deployment of temporary teachers.

j) Introduce standard norms and guidelines to manage temporary teachers or teachers appointed through private sources.

k) Review and strengthen eligibility criteria for teacher licensing and participation in teacher service examinations. For example, persons fulfilling basic qualifications and

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having taken a one-year preparatory course should be eligible to participate in teaching licence examinations.

l) Teacher preparation programs for English, science and mathematics (from other faculties) and TEVT subjects

m) Train teachers on inclusive education

n) Develop specific strategies to respond to the needs of teacher management in the context of disaster affected districts (for example management of teachers in TLCs).

Teacher Professional Development

a) Introduce a career path for the direct promotion of teachers to higher levels in line with the Civil Service Act.

b) Peer support groups and mentor schemes

c) Run teacher preparation programmes to supply adequate teachers to teach core subjects such as science, mathematics and English, as well as social subjects.

o) Develop a support and mentor program that enforces peer support and monitoring of translating professional development into improved quality classroom teaching-learning practices.

p) Develop teacher performance appraisal systems and career paths for basic and secondary teachers by introducing separate career paths.

q) Introduce a compulsory IE module in Pre-service programme to provide basic knowledge and skills on (a) needs and abilities of children with special needs, (b) child-centred pedagogical methods and (b) active and participative learning techniques, instructional accommodation and activity differentiation.

r) Strengthen the alignment between school curriculum and teacher education course, introduction of competencies/professional standards for teacher candidates).

d) Ensure all teachers are trained on inclusive education and catering to students with disabilities.

e) Renew teachers’ licenses every five years.

f) Introduce programmes to support continuous learning and professional development for teachers.

g) Strengthen CAS as a tool that guides teachers in self- and peer assessment of applying student centred and child friendly teaching methodology.

h) Introduce an induction year with adequate mentoring and support provisions for new teachers upon entering the teaching service, linked with career development and incentives.

i) Felicitate outstanding teachers with letters and certificates.

j) Engage with universities to reform and strengthen the preparatory courses for teachers and strengthen the methodology on student centred and child friendly learning methodology.

k) Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (CPD) using centrally designed modules for teachers of different levels and subjects, both at including early grade

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reading (especially focusing on teaching of languages), use of basic science kits, student assessments (including formative and summative) and activity-based learning, and English, Math and Science at secondary level.

l) Provide demand-based as well as need-based short and medium term training programmes for teachers.

m) Provide training for teachers on teaching children with a first language other than Nepali Nepali as a second language, and teaching multiple languages, including the transition between languages.

n) Develop specific strategies to respond to the professional development needs of teachers in the context of disaster affected districts (for example strengthening of counselling and MGML teaching in temporary facilities).

Physical targets

By the end of SSDP:18,000 HT management training76,000 certification training (basic and secondary)EGRP training 56,000 primary school teachersIntensive and refresher training to 63,000 ECD/PPC teachersSchool based professional development for basic level schools School based professional development for secondary schools

Key Performance indicatorTeacher Professional Development and Management

Increase of number of teachers with approved competency established Number of days of teacher’s attendanceNumber and percentage of teachers trained

Key Results

Key Results — Teacher Management and Professional Development

1. Quality education through improved teacher (re)distribution and management

1.1 Number of teachers with minimum qualifications and competencies.

1.2 Student-subject teacher ratios in upper basic (Grades 6-8) and secondary levels, especially for maths, science and English subjects.

1.3 Ensure availability of teachers and subject teachers in all secondary schools as per norms.

1.4 Continuous professional development of subject teachers of secondary schools.

1.5 Professional development of full-time head teachers.

1.6 Strengthen implementation of the Teachers’ Competency Framework and the development of an institutional mechanism for the quality assurance of teacher’ professional development.

2. Teacher recruitment

2.1 Enhance the quality of pre-service teacher education courses.

2.2 Redefine the minimum qualifications and competencies for teacher candidates.

2.3 Strengthen the existing licensing and recruitment system to include practical assessment of teaching skills.

2.4 Mandatory induction training of at least one-month for all new teachers at the time of joining

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service.

2.5 Provision of separate head teacher positions in all schools in a phased manner.

2.6 Recruitment of newly qualified teachers following reservation quotas.

3. Teacher deployment and redeployment

3.1 Undertake teacher redeployment from areas with low to high student-teacher ratios STRs, and from primary to upper levels.

3.2 The provision of subject teachers, especially in maths, science and English in a phased manner.

4. Teacher management

4.1 Implement the agreed action plan (medium and long term) based on the recommendations of the Teacher Management and Development Study (** ADD REF)

4.2 For each large secondary school, review real enrolment/attendance and identify eligibility for teachers, including subject teachers. SMCs to replace unqualified teachers over a period of two years with qualified subject teachers.

4.3 Rework financial package for science and maths and technical education teachers for grades 9-10 and 11-12 (masters graduates)

4.4 Creation of a separate cadre of full-time head teachers.

4.5 Define responsibilities and authority for school management by head teachers vis-à-vis SMCs.

5. Teacher professional development

5.1 Certification/induction training (one month) organized for all newly recruited or redeployed teachers for science and maths.

5.2 Develop revised training programmes for subject and head teachers

5.3 Implement the revised continuous professional development strategy including distance learning materials, tutorial type short duration programmes, hand-outs.

5.4 Run at least two rounds of training for all science and maths teachers of 1000 secondary schools over the plan period.

5.5 Implementing mechanisms for lead schools to support feeder schools in the professional development of teachers and whole school improvement.

5.6 Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (CPD) using centrally designed modules for teachers of different levels and subjects, including English, Math and Science at secondary level.: These should be in the areas of early grade reading (especially focusing on teaching of languages), use of basic science kits, student assessments (including formative and summative) and activity-based learning.

5.7 Design and implement a programme for improving teachers’ proficiency in English and mother tongue and improved materials and methods for teaching English through collaboration with a TESOL agency.

5.8 The promotion of subject-specific teacher circles in lead and feeder schools

6. Teacher performance evaluations

6.1 Provision of student/beneficiary monitoring of teacher attendance.

6.2 Head teachers to conduct mandatory biannual performance appraisals of all teachers in the school

7. Strengthen training and professional development institutions

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7.1 Strengthen and reform the resource centre system (selection of resource persons, using a wider set of roster teachers, focus mainly on basic education, use of centrally developed materials and master trainers trained at national/province level, introducing short courses on specific topics, face-to-face support for distance learning programmes).

7.2 Strengthen the seven ETCs (with better staffing and infrastructure) to become institutions for curriculum and training at province level. Strengthen other ETCs and lead resource centres (LRCs) to support training for secondary teachers

7.3 Equip ETCs and LRCs with facilities for audio/video conferencing for training of their staff and secondary school teachers

7.4 Develop good subject teachers in lead schools to lead local professional development of basic and secondary school teachers in neighbouring feeder schools.

8.2 Governance and management

Performance and accountability audit system for awarding best performing community schools and to support the weak schools – A scaling system to rank the community schools on the basis of several indicators related to education achievement, school governance, and facilities available would be developed in the first year. On the basis of this scaling for all the community schools, top three schools will be identified in each of the districts for the best performing school award. Indicators may cover teachers’ attendance rate, students’ attendance rates, share of female teachers, ineligible expenses, SLC pass rates, number of SMC meetings etc. In the first year, such a system will be developed, and it will be implemented from the second year onward.

Objective:

The effective delivery of education services.

Performance and result based management

Accountable decentralized management

Policy directions

a) The gradual transition of school governance and management, in line with the constitutional mandate and upcoming federal structure, to local government responsibility.

b) The equitable participation and representation of communities in school governance and management.

c) More efficient and effective educational services through strengthening public financial management and school level management.

d) Enforce that construction of new schools or classrooms is only permitted in line with the approved building codes

Strategies

a) Develop a three year Roadmap for the reform and restructuring of institutional arrangements to accommodate the federal structure of the education sector and redefine governance within this.

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b) Review existing rules and regulations to align school governance and management with the new constitutional mandate including functions of SMCs, parent teacher associations (PTAs) and resource centres.

c) Strengthen awareness of parents and communities, to increase capacity in school management committees and parent teacher associations (PTAs) and through that accountability of quality education.

d) Develop a national framework to support local governments to revisit roles and functions including the capacity of SMCs to strengthen school governance and management.

e) Strengthen use of SIP as a critical tool for quality improvement a school level

f) Engagement of communities to increase accountability, leverage financing and increase good governance and transparency.

g) Develop strategy to reduce political affiliation of school level staff, teachers and managers and strengthen community affiliation

h) Study circles and visits to good performing schools, and platform for sharing knowledge among SMC members to improve education delivery at the school level.

i) Introduce performance-based management and resourcing for ensuring accountability at school level.

j) Introduce separate service contracts for school principals. These contracts will be signed with school principals based on the proposed reform plan and their capacity to implement them by demonstrating visible results in student learning.

k) Establish grievance handling mechanism for education stakeholders and beneficiaries can directly report their grievances to Department of Education.

l) Strengthen capacity of school management as a whole on school account keeping, linkages among the educational plans (activities and budget), disaster management and leadership of (head)teachers.

m) Tailored intervention packages to strengthen district and local level management in areas with the lowest education outcomes, such as the central Terai and the Karnali zone.

n) Establish coordination mechanism between DoE and NCED and CDC, as well as their districts institutions (ETCs, L/RCs) to partner with external institutes for development of quality products.

o) Develop specific strategies to respond to the needs of central and district level management and coordination in the context of disaster affected districts.

Physical targets

By the end of SSDP:To be added later

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Key Performance indicatorGovernance and Management

Key results

Key Results — Governance and management

1. Strengthening institutional arrangements

1.1 Implementing the new constitutional mandate of federal arrangement and other policy reforms.

1.2 The integration of secondary and higher secondary levels and a system focus on secondary level (9-12).

1.3 Develop the Governance and Accountability Framework.

1.4 Establish NEB, make administrative changes in existing examining bodies (Office of Controller of Examinations [OCE], and the Higher Secondary Education Board [HSEB]) and select technically strong staff for these organisations.

1.5 Reduced disparities between districts areas, such as the central Terai with low education outcomes in terms of access, participation and learning outcomes.

1.6 Create units or divisions in national level organizations focused on secondary level education.

1.7 Structural reform to create one academic body for school education and rationalize staff.

1.8 ETCs, LRCs and recourse centres and persons function under guidance and control of National Centre for Educational Development-Curriculum Development Centre (NCED-CDC)

1.9 Create a special project under SSDP to strengthen administrative measures, institutional arrangements, teacher management and development and school improvement along with social mobilization (with involvement of civil society organizations and traditional community organizations) for education in these areas. This should be headed by a minister and a special task force.

2. Strengthen financial management

2.1 Establish internal control and oversight capacity within MoE and DoE for supervising DEOs to strengthen compliance with financial regulations.

2.2 Recruit/appoint chief finance and administrative officers within DOEs with qualifications relevant for the positions.

2.3 DoE monitoring of school level accounting and financial reporting based on introduction of simplified reporting and monitoring procedures.

2.4 DoE supervision/inspection of school level financial management including teacher payrolls and grant utilization.

2.5 Roll out the Financial Comptroller General Office’s (FCGO) Computerized Government Accounting System (CGAS) to all DEOs to serve as a web based integrated financial management with data stored in central server accessible by the chief financial officers CFO of MoE, the Ministry of Finance and FCGO for monitoring performance in budget execution

2.6 Improved compliance with financial regulations evidenced by reduced number of Office of the Auditor General (OAG) recurring observations related to overspending of budget heads including teacher salaries.

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2.7 Improved predictability of budget execution by actual expenditure contained within approved budget and total expenditure is no less than 95% of initially approved budget.

3. Strengthened management and accountability at school level

3.1 Full-time head teachers lead school improvements in large and lead secondary schools with authority and accountability.

3.2 Define responsibilities and authority for school management by head teachers vis-à-vis SMCs.

3.3 Work out arrangements for school performance appraisals and head teacher accountability

3.4 Training and development of guidelines on financial management at the school level.

8.3 Capacity Development

Objective

To improve the quality and efficiency of service delivery through the establishment of a capable and result-oriented workforce in the public education sector.

Background

To achieve this objective a costed institutional capacity development plan needs to be developed that addresses the human resource and institutional capacity development needs of civil servants and duty bearers in existing posts related to their current expected additional roles and responsibilities under a restructured education sector, and for those recruited or transferred in new positions created under SSDP. At the same time, the unfinished agenda in terms of developing the capacity of regular functions and tasks of the system and the people working in it need to be incorporated. The development of a plan for the strengthening of human resource and institutional capacity is an integral part of the planning and implementation of the SSDP. This plan will have three major dimensions:

enabling the provision of education through the federal structure with decentralized education management;

strengthening decentralized education management with regard to educational planning, management and budgeting; and

ensuring capability-based recruitment and management of staff to ensure capacity development results in competent and motivated staff. This “demands a series of interventions [….], such as clear post descriptions for the various officials working at the provincial and district levels; transparent and appropriate recruitment or nomination criteria and procedures” (World Bank 2013).

As the full-fledged implementation of the federal structure is expected to be initiated soon within the SSDP period (1-3 years) with institutionalization in the medium term (3-5 years), the first years of SSDP implementation need to be used to prepare the system for this transformation, both in management and funding structures as well as in human and institutional capacities. As such, the plan should maintain flexibility and should be adaptable based on consultation and discussions among policy-makers and technical staff within the Ministry of Education, the Department of Education and other central level agencies on how the federal structure is likely to impact the educational administration, and what implications this

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has on the skill sets and competencies required by duty bearers. Furthermore, the skills developed at provincial, district and local level to implement the past and on-going efforts to decentralize the education system need to be revisited to ensure that they are relevant for education planning, management and budgeting under the federal structure.

Learning from efforts undertaken in the past, the capacity development modality needs to be revisited. Traditionally, capacity development was perceived as a synonym for training; however, this perception is insufficient as training often does not result in strengthened institutional capacity or in the improved quality of teaching and learning processes. The strategies to strengthen skills sets and competencies and institutional performance need to take a more holistic and results-based approach.

Strategies

a) Develop a three year Roadmap for the reform and restructuring of institutional arrangements to accommodate the federal structure and the Capacity and Institutional needs for MoE, DoE, CLAs and district bodies that will emerge as a result of this.

b) Mobilize and coordinate technical assistance to enable partnerships of CDC and NCED, and the ETCs/LRCs with external professional experts and institutions for developing strengthening approaches to science and math teaching, development of materials like videos and interactive ICT learning software, science and math kits, new approaches to TPD, videos and materials for teacher development, Teaching of English as a second language, school based assessments and reform in examinations based on international standards and good practices adapted to the context of Nepal.

c) Scale up the development of skills on IE and children with special needs at national for DoE, NCED, CDC and district levels for DEO and Assessment centre coordinators, supported by the Tribhuvan University’s Department of Special Need Education in the Faculty of Education.

d) Provide SIP formulation and updating training, to learn how to utilizing SIP Formulation Guidebook, School-level Workshop Manual and SSA Checklist to newly head teachers and SMC chairpersons.

Physical targets

By the end of SSDP:Number of civil servants trained on education management and planning.Number of teachers trained on education management and planning.Number of head teachers and SMC chairs trained SIP formulation SSA

Key Performance indicatorCapacity development

Key Results

Key Results — Capacity Development

1. Capacitated and motivated duty bearers

1.1 Provide professional development to staff of NEB to implement state-of-the art

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improvements in examination design, administration and scoring.

1.2 Non-teaching staff at all levels within the education sector receive regular professional development opportunities.

2. Capacity development as an integral part of planning

2.1 Mechanism established at district level for training a newly assigned head teacher and a newly appointed SMC chairperson how to formulate SIP and update SIP.

2.1 Develop a costed capacity development plan that outlines competencies and skills sets of different position and levels in the education sector.

3. Teacher professional feedback and peer support mechanisms

3.1 The establishment of peer support and mentor/coaching schemes through non-monetary incentives for teachers who can be mentors.

SIP Finalization & Updating, increasing social accountability and transparency through social audit for Ensuring Quality Education

GIS based school mapping (Updating & data analysing)

School level talent hunt among teachers through extra-curricular activities

Management cost for the school construction activities

Media mobilization for educational improvement

Educational exhibition and learning faire conduction

Action research evaluation and report preparation

8.4 Disaster Risk Reduction and School Safety

Background

Large areas of Nepal are considered disaster prone areas, and the country has experienced a number of earthquakes and other natural disasters over the past decades, with the April 2015 earthquake causing extensive human losses and damage to livelihoods and infrastructure in a large part of the country. The Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Recovery Framework (PDNA/RF) identified over 45,000 classrooms to be in need of repair or reconstruction, along with toilets, school walls, water supply and sanitation facilities. As such, the focus of Disaster Risk Reduction in the education sector is focused on strengthening education facilities in non-affected areas, as well as ensuring that the recovery of education facilities is undertaken in line with the three pillars of comprehensive school safety.

Objectives

To ensure all children can access safe enabling learning environments.

To mainstream comprehensive school safety and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the education sector by strengthening school level disaster management and resilience among communities.

To ensure that short, medium and long term recovery from the 2015 earthquake within the SSDP education sub sectors is done in line with the three pillars of the comprehensive school safety concept.

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Policy directions

a) Ensure that all learning facilities – institutional, private, religious, non-formal education and other types of facilities are disaster-resilient and provide safe learning spaces for children to receive a quality education. This entails safe site selection, building codes, disaster resilient designs, retrofitting, construction supervision and quality control.

b) Strengthen the preparedness and risk reduction capacity of the education system from national through to school level through multi-hazard risk assessment and mapping for disaster management (structural and non-structural), action planning to reduce risks at the school level, the incorporation of school safety into school improvement plans (SIPs), planning for educational continuity, building response and preparedness capacities, and reaching out to communities.

c) Establish inter sectoral linkages with MoFALD, MOHA and DUDBC to leverage the local resources and enhance coordination for mainstreaming DRR.

d) Mainstream risk reduction and resilience into formal and non-formal education through national and local curricula and teachers’ professional development.

Strategies

a) To strengthen the preparedness and risk reduction capacity of the education system from national to school level through multi-hazard risk assessment and mapping for disaster management (structural and non-structural), action planning to reduce risks at the school level,

b) To incorporate school safety into school improvement plans (SIPs), planning for educational continuity, building response and preparedness capacities, and reaching out to communities.

c) Mainstream risk reduction and resilience into formal and non-formal education through national and local curricula and teachers’ professional development.

d) To build on pre- and post-disaster lessons learned within the education sector and suggest policies and strategies to inform the development of the SSDP.

e) To identify a minimum package for schools on comprehensive school safety and disaster risk reduction (CSS-DRR) to reach children, teachers, head teachers, SMCs, parents, communities, education authorities and officials at all levels through existing government mechanisms.

f) Establish a coordinated national mechanism to address these challenges jointly and leverage funding and support from partners to achieve set goals aligned to minimum standards, while also increasing the national-level leadership and oversight in recovery in the affected districts.

g) Develop a roadmap with education sub sector specific components to balance the needs emerged from the 2015 earthquake with those remaining as a result of the unfinished agenda of the SSRP, taking available dedicated human resources and capacities, as well as social and non-infrastructure impact and needs into account

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h) To map the main actors and on-going and future initiatives including the Master Plan (MOE 2013) and other relevant strategies and initiatives that support MoE’s and DoE’s leadership in ensuring the mainstreaming of DRR and school safety.

i) To establish a joint coordination mechanism that focuses on comprehensive recovery in the earthquake-affected districts by addressing the holistic needs of schools and communities, including DRR and school safety, and by preparing a joint action based to address needs and gaps to leverage funding and support national coordination for recovery activities in schools.

Physical targets

By the end of SSDP:38,000 new classrooms established in earthquake-affected districts.Post-earthquake construction of 21,000 schools with at least four rooms.Minor maintenance and retrofitting in 19,500 schools.

Key Performance indicatorDisaster Risk Reduction Number of schools reconstructed

Number of schools retrofitted

Key Results

Key Results — Disaster Risk Reduction and School Safety

1. All children receive education in safe learning facilities

1.1

Develop and implement time-bound action plan for the (re)construction of safe basic and secondary schools with committed resources for all possible costs (assessment, planning, supervision, implementation, consulting, coordination, research and development, awareness and capacity building).

1.2Develop and approve prototype designs for new school construction that are resilient to multiple hazards and have inclusive design.

1.3

Increase numbers of qualified staff (including engineers) and develop guidelines for supervision to enforce mandatory certification by the authorized government agency and technical oversight during construction and/or retrofitting of schools.

1.4Define and monitor community involvement by introducing block grant modes to ensure safe school facilities and more resilient communities.

1.5Register and monitor all organisations involved in school construction to ensure they comply with government rules and regulations.

2. Strengthen school disaster management

2.1Develop and monitor a set of standard approved key messages for comprehensive school safety and DRR in schools and standard operating procedures for different types of disasters.

2.2

Training of teachers, students and SMCs in disaster risk management (DRM), by developing and disseminating standard teaching-learning materials on DRM through formal and non-formal education.

2.3 Incorporate key DRR messages into professional development and training packages. Disseminate these through different mechanisms to reach children, teachers, SMC members

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and communities.

2.4

Develop a set of standard educational training packages on DRR for teachers, head teachers and SMCs, utilizing a range of different approaches including audio-visual materials such as videos, DVDs and dramas.

2.5 Provide guidelines for head teachers and SMCs on risk assessment and school safety planning

2.6Strengthening the utilization of SIP Supplementary Training Manual to discuss school readiness in the SIP planning process.

2.6 Including specific DRR related roles and responsibilities in the Terms of reference for SMCs.

2.7 Mobilize child clubs to engage children in active learning for DRR.

2.8Ensure that all school disaster management materials are accessible for all and have been developed on the gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) principles.

2.9 Review, update and regularly testing the education sector’s contingency and preparedness plans.

2.10 Incorporate a DRR component within EMIS to capture preventative and response activities within the education sector.

3. Institutionalizing risk reduction and resilience education

3.1Reviewing the scope and sequence of the curriculum and incorporate learning outcomes for DRR throughout ECCD, basic and secondary grades.

3.2Based on the revised curricula, updating pre- and in-service teacher training and other relevant training packages to incorporate DRR.

3.3

Ensuring that children become aware about disaster risk mitigation strategies and are able to assess their environment on risks and trigger fast and adequate responses to minimise human losses during disasters.

3.4 Making all risk reduction and education accessible for all and incorporate GESI principles.

3.5Integrate DRR into academic, informal (non-formal) and professional curricula progressively from basic awareness to vocational training and advanced knowledge and skill sets.

3.6 Using appropriate provisions, such as local curricula, to roll out risk reduction and resilience education.

3.7 Using non-formal education and appropriate venues for the dissemination of risk reduction and resilience education.

3.8 Developing a communications strategy to promote the use of a range of tools to disseminate DRR information to children, communities and parents.

8.5 Monitoring, Evaluation and AssessmentNepal has made great strides in capturing learning achievement information at the national level in recent decades, and given the increased MoE and DoE focus on learning outcomes, this will likely continue to be a growing area of work for education stakeholders during implementation of the SSDP and in the post-MDG agenda. Using the data generated by learning assessments to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the education system will be the key. However, with regards to data onidentification, early detection and follow up on children with disabilities, further data collection is crucial to allow the implementation of efficient strategies for out-of-school children with disabilities

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and to find concrete and individual solutions regarding each impairment or special needs (including mild disabilities).

School Improvement Plan (SIP) process is a critical tool for integrating the various quality inputs at the school level and ‘converting’ them into effective teaching and learning. Under the SSRP, schools and communities have been supported in using the SIP not merely for allocation of funds and grants and improvement of the physical environment but also for ensuring that the ‘ethos’ of the school ensures equal opportunities, through addressing any discriminatory practices or low expectations and encouraging support to children with special needs or vulnerabilities. SIP can also be used as a tool for assessing student learning and planning improvements, identifying teachers’ support and training needs and for monitoring teaching and learning. However, outside of the purview of various projects, the SSRP as a whole still seems not to have strongly emphasized the importance of embedding quality at the school level through developing a culture of ‘instructional leadership’ amongst head teachers and using the SIP to guide a participatory ‘whole school’ (and ‘whole community’) approach to school quality development.

Objectives

Strengthen use of EMIS to inform analysis and planning

To inform policy making bodies about the status of the education system in general and learning achievements in particular.

The provision of regular feedback to implementing agencies about the status of programmes and activities

To ensure that data is accessible for duty bearers and stakeholders to inform planning at local and district levels.

Policy directions

a) Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Education Review Office (ERO) to independently review and audit the education system including student assessments.

b) Use disparity based formula to identify need and allocate resources to reduce disparities

c) Strengthening institutional research and the analysis of education trends at the policy level to ensure evidence based policy and plan development.

d) Strengthen linkage of EMIS with preparation timeline of ASIP/AWPB to increase evidence based planning.

e) Revise the classification of disability and data collection methods to be in line with international standards

Strategies

a) Design a Mid Term Review of the SSDP and reflect this in the 3 year institutional capacity roadmap for the reform and restructuring of institutional arrangements to accommodate the federal structure of the education sector.

b) Develop a specific component within the overall SSDP M&E framework to monitor the status and progress with regard to implementation of the roadmap with sub sector specific components to respond to the needs emerged from the 2015 earthquake.

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c) Implement communication strategies of school level education outcomes to strengthen monitoring and engagement of communities and parents in the local management and provision of education.

d) Strengthen the results-oriented monitoring and evaluation system and the Educational Management Information System (EMIS).

e) Building the capacity of ERO to conduct NASA and EGRA on a regular basis.

f) Establish linkages between EMIS and the different data sets to link the results of NASA, ERO, M&E and EMIS reports with policy-making and planning.

g) Fully embed the Equity Index within EMIS at all levels, to inform the government’s central and decentralized planning and budgeting processes on reducing disparities.

h) Design and develop a framework for carrying out periodic evaluations of educational programmes.

i) Ensure that disaggregated data on children with different types of disabilities is collected on a regular base and is available to inform policy and planning processes.

j) Develop a research-based/oriented monitoring and evaluation system.

k) Carry out client satisfaction surveys and formative research.

l) Strengthen the use of technology for managing educational data.

m) Strengthen EMIS to enable it to monitor recovery and reconstruction and DRR indicators and progress.

n) Strengthen student assessments by effectively implementing the continuous assessment system (CAS), classroom-based EGRA, and EGRA.

Physical targets

By the end of SSDP:To be included later

Key Performance indicatorM&E and Assessment NASA survey

periodic reportingEGRA/EGMA

Key results

Key results — M&E and Assessment

1. Increased institutional capacity for policy level analysis and evidence based planning

1.1 Strengthened institutional capacity of the Education Review Office (ERO) to independently review and audit the education system including student assessments.

1.2 Strengthened policy level EMIS in its linkage to the DoE’s EMIS and other education data sets as well as capacity to undertake formative research.

1.3 Supported the integration of NASA, EGRA, NFE-MIS, SLC data and DRR into EMIS to establish a comprehensive data set for the school education sector and reflection in flash reporting.

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2. Strengthening EMIS for increased transparency and accountability

2.1 Strengthened EMIS and other databases (e.g. Teacher Information System and Scholarship Management System) that help provide reliable and timely information on key performance indicators including MECs, availability of subject teachers, scholarships, school infrastructure status, student learning outcomes. survival, retention or completion rates for different social groups

2.2 Linked learning data into EMIC (e.g. SLC database, EGR assessment results).

2.3 Make EMIS web-based and school-based allowing for tracking the progress of individual schools.

2.4 Enhance transparency by making the databases available in the public domain.

3. Strengthened quality and use of educational data at district, sub district and local levels

3.1 Developed automated production of regional, district, school profile cards using IEMIS data and prepared tools to support analysis of district and school profile cards to inform resource centres, DEOs and SIPs.

3.2 Categorized and compared districts and schools based on equity indexes at district and sub district levels to inform school grant formulas.

3.3 Piloted and introduced new technologies for data collection and feedback (such as RapidPro), including for monitoring time-on-task and assessing physical maintenance priorities.

3.4 Data on out of school children in EMIS verified and validated at school level through the use of district, VDC and school profiles.

3.5 Collect information and standardise public reporting on languages of students, and languages taught in school and caste/ethnic groups.

3.6 Develop the Equity Index as an integral part of EMIS.

8.6 Examination and Accreditation

Objectives

A credible system of certification of educational qualifications.

Accreditation and acceptance of certification across the country.

Policy directions

A national examination system to accredit educational qualifications.

The decentralisation of examinations and certification.

Introduce and strengthen formative and summative assessments and exam reforms strategies

Establish a National Examination Board

Hold examinations at three levels to test at the end of grades 8 (local), 10 (provincial) and 12 (national/federal), for which all certificates will be issued by the NEB. Schools to issue educational certificates in all other grades.

Adoption of letter grading and single subject certification in all educational certificates.

From assessment of learning to assessment for learning.

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Review and rationalize cohesion of curriculum, textbooks and assessment

Strategies

a) Develop specific strategies to respond to the needs of students and schools during examinations in the context of disaster affected districts (for example for students from these areas that face related challenges in undertaking their SLC).

b) Implement Exam Reform Roadmap that is based on international best practices and the context of Nepal

Physical targets

By the end of SSDP:National Education Board is established

Key Performance indicatorExamination and Accreditation

Key results

Key results — Examination and Accreditation

1. Strengthen classroom-based assessments for education

1.1 Conducted classroom based EGRAs in a phased manner.

1.2 Improved learning outcomes through application of simplified CAS by teachers.

1.3 Reformed school based periodic tests and examinations with use of standardized test items that measure all cognitive domains as well as skills and attitudes.

1.4 Reformed district level examinations (DLE) in Grade 8 with special focus on standardization across districts and use of items to measure all cognitive domains as well as skills and attitudes.

2. Assessment and examination reform

2.1 Developed and implemented standardized examinations for grades 10 and 12.

2.2Implemented single subject certification policy for SLC (Grade 10) and higher secondary (11-12) exams.

2.3 Established minimum standards for achievement in key areas of each subject.

2.4Assessment framework developed for Grades 8, 10 and 12 that supports the desired learning including higher order, application based learning

2.5 Improve the quality of term tests and annual examinations by using standardized test items.

2.6Using analysis of results of school based assessments for identifying weaker students and arranging revision and remediation.

2.7Comprehensive reform of SLC and HSE examination (including standardized high quality test items).

2.8 Implementing NASA in grade 10.

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Standarzation of SLC

2.9 Single subject certification for SLC and HSE.

2.10 Reform institutional structure of National Examination Board.

8.7 International Economic Cooperation and Coordination

Introduction

The Ministry has established a strong cooperation and coordination model throughout the last two decades. Building upon the gains obtained through the establishment of school education Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps) under the BPEP, EFA and most recently, the SSRP, the MoE intends to continue strengthening the coordination and support modality under the SSDP. Drawing on the experiences at the institutional, organizational and individual levels, MoE has a firm foundation for developing a mechanism for utilizing external resources in line with the principles of the Paris Declaration, the Accra Agenda of Action and the Bhusan Conference. The declining trend of the contribution of external resources under the SSRP as a result of the overall increase of the school sector education budget show the commitment from the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission in establishing education as a priority sector and the sustainability of the reforms that have been institutionalized in the sector through the development agenda of the education sector plans. The SWAp consortium has been seen as strong and diverse with presence of multi-laterals, bilaterals UN agencies and non-governmental/civil society organization consortiums, providing either pooling and/or non-pooling support. In addition, the SWAp consortium operates in a broader group of stakeholders and representatives in terms of joint reviews, monitoring and consultation of the planning and implementation of the sector plans, which resembles the model of the Local Education Group (LEG).

Under the SSDP, the Ministry and the Development Partners aim to further strengthen the modality of channelling both the pooling and non-pooling external resources towards the SSD development agenda to trigger the envisioned reforms. For this, the Development Partners will commit to a single set of key performance and system indicators through a Joint Financial Arrangement to minimize the administrative and reporting demands on the system and maximize the focus on key reforms that have been identified of triggers for the broader strengthening of the education sector in terms of Quality, Access& Equity and Efficiency. To strengthen the accountability and performance based focus of the system, the resources will be linked to obtaining the jointly agreed targets in these key indicators, which will present a balanced composition of system input, processes and to an extend outputs and outcomes and progress indicators across the school education sub sectors and cross cutting themes included in the SSDP.

The SSDP JFA will be supported by a Joint Direct Financial Arrangement, which will allow for aligning non pooling support, including Technical Assistance and Direct Funding (TA/DF) to the SSDP. The JDFA will also serve to mobilize support to strengthen the SSDP SWAp coordination mechanism and the joint review, monitoring and validation of the joint indicators and overall performance of the program.

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Objectives

a) To strengthen the impact of development resources provided by the MOE’s development partners in key reform areas.

b) To ensure full alignment of externally provided financial and technical resources with government policies, programmes and implementation support requirements.

Policy Direction

a) The Development Cooperation Policy (MoF 2014) provides a national framework for donor coordination, whereby foreign aid is disbursed through the Red Book system according to the National Development Plan in line with the national priorities. The implementation of the SSDP through a SWAp modality is fully aligned with the directions provided in the policy.

b) The development partners’ response to GoN for full alignment with the regular system of the Government by reflecting both pooling support to the SSDP into the Annual Strategic Implementation Plan/ Annual Work Plan and Budget (ASIP/AWPB), making the receiving side fully accountable to demonstrate results.

c) Some percentage of bilateral/ multi-lateral contribution can be agreed upon to be allocated for direct funding and TA by the partners, not exceeding the 10% of the total support. TA/DF contribution will also be considered from the partners who cannot enter into the JFA pool. These arrangements are meant for a certain period of time during the transition, leading to a complete merger into Government’s Red Book system through a gradual move.

d) Explore various financing modality such as Public Financing and Private Provision of education services.

e) The Government’s own assessment, annual review mission and the MTR of the SSDP will feed into the reform process for improving aid effectiveness and donor harmonization across the sector.

Strategies

a) Ensure that all foreign aid and TA made available by development partners are channelled through and coordinated by the MoE’s Foreign Coordination Section (FCS). To enhance effectiveness in foreign aid and technical assistance by channelizing external support through MoE’s FCS.

b) Provide technical assistance to strengthen the MOE’s FCS in the coordination of the joint monitoring, consultation and reporting of the SSDP’s planning and implementation, enabling release of the committed pooled resources of the Development Partners based on the joint validation of progress under the SSDP against the identified Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).

c) Harmonize DPs’ fund and TA with GoN’s national and sectoral programmes and priorities through the establishment of a single set of system and performance indicators that will serve the result based support modality of the Development Partners to the SSDP.

d) Establish a Joint Coordination mechanism for the planning, management, monitoring and reporting of direct funding facilities and TA supported by development partners to

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ensure alignment with the Ministry’s ASIP/ AWPB, to reduce administrative cost, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of direct funding and TA provisions.

e) A Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA) will be developed, and a code of conduct agreed by partners to coordinate and harmonize assistance across the SSDP SWAp. The JFA will include a single set of performance indicators and targets, extracted from the SSDP result framework (annex 2) to reduce the separate arrangements and projects, whilst retaining flexibility towards the individual requirements of development partners.

f) The JFA performance indicators will represent a balanced composition across SSDP sub-sectors and will focus on results in terms of inputs, processes and outputs at policy, planning and implementation levels. These indicators and their respective targets will be compiled in a Joint Performance Assessment Framework, which will be reviewed at joint annual reviews to allow fund disbursement.

g) Harmonize TA and direct funding facilities through the development of a Joint Direct Financial Arrangement (JDFA), including a framework of a sectoral pool of TA, defined and mobilized by MoE.

h) Develop effective networking and to build rapport with NPC, MoF, MoE, FCGO, AGO and other partner agencies for creating synergy in the system.

i) Promote positive atmosphere and provide enabling environment for the DPs (including INGOs) to work together in good faith and to observe the codes of conduct for inter and intra agency harmonization.

j) A dedicated unit will be established under the Foreign Coordination Section (FCS) in the Ministry of Education, financed through direct funding. The funding will include development partner-supported position(s) to support the FCS for its capacity and institutional needs for the smooth functioning of mechanisms for aid effectiveness and for strengthening the institutional structure for coordination, research, analysis and knowledge-sharing.

k) A Joint Steering Committee will be formed to identify, coordinate and align externally-provided technical assistance (TA) in line with a common TA framework, linked to the SSDP capacity and institutional development plan. The latter will include definitions of the types and purposes of TA, and the establishment of a Technical Assistance Cooperation Pool.

l) The use of thematic working groups will be continued under the SSDP to provide joint thematic platforms for technical discussions. Based on lessons learned under the SSRP, these groups will be composed considering the scope for membership beyond the government and development partners to optimise the use of the considerable national capacity in education and related areas within universities and research institutes to further contextualise debates and improve continuity and institutional learning.

m) TA mechanism to coordinate TA for partnership with CLAs for quality reforms

n) Provide TA to strengthen the coordination of the activities related to the recovery and reconstruction in response to the damages and losses caused by the 2015 earthquake, ensuring linkage between the recovery, DRR and regular planning and implementation under the SSDP.

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Key Results

a) DPs’ support is channelized through GoN’s regular system.

b) Duplications and overlapping in program implementation are minimized.

c) Workload of the overstretched management is reduced to the minimal.

d) Aid predictability is strengthened and transaction costs are reduced through the identification of a single set of disbursement linked system and progress indicators with annual targets, allowing additional DPs to join the SSDP SWAp at depending on fund availability at different times committing to this set of indicators and targets.

e) Institutional capacity on coordination of the SSDP SWAp and financial reporting is strengthened through technical assistance.

f) TA and DF facilities are aligned through a JDFA with the mainstream programs, making them a subject to reviews and bringing them into the result chains.

g) Sustainability is guaranteed, as external resources will be channelled towards reconstruction and reform agenda without adding liabilities to the GoN system.

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9 FINANCING

9.1 Introduction

The financing of education is a shared responsibility of national and provincial governments and local communities. The mobilization of resources will entail increased commitment on the part of government, partnership arrangements with the private sector and cost sharing with local governments and communities. Such a multi-pronged approach to drive resources is not only necessary for raising funds but also to ensure that accountability and ownership is shared amongst key stakeholders. Strengthening the capacity of local governments on financial management and reporting and institutionalizing social auditing are other important considerations under the SSDP.

It is necessary to prioritize educational expenditure, ensure equitable access to and participation in quality and inclusive education by implementing the equity strategy and an equity-based formula to strengthen need based allocations.

9.2 Objectives

Generate adequate financial resources for education development.

Provide adequate resources to support educational policy directions.

Manage available resources effectively.


a) The government to bear the cost of school education including one year’s PPE/ECED.

b) Cost-sharing between central and provincial governments.

c) Schools as the standard cost unit for government education grants and provisions to ensure minimum standards.

d) Enhance the roles of the private and public sector to fund educational programmes.

e) External support in education to focus on in major impact areas of investment.

9.4 Strategies

a) Adopt the formula-based allocation of resources such as basic/committed grants, incentive grants and special package grants.

b) Adopt a results-based resource allocation system.

c) Develop an overall investment framework for education to harmonise the roles and responsibilities of federal, provincial and local governments.

d) Develop standard types of schools, such as large, residential and special schools, and use approved minimum standards for these types of schools as standard units for cost estimates and the disbursement of education block grants. Develop a system for cost-benefit and output analyses to help ensure value for money.

e) Maintain financial discipline and good governance by carrying out public expenditure tracking surveys, service delivery surveys, regular monitoring and public hearings and by administering report cards.

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f) Strengthen accountability to increase the value for money through adoption of a results based financing modality for the external funding for SSDP, in which results will be tracked using an agreed set of indicators against which progress is verified on an annual base.

g) The increased use of GoN’s public procurement and financial management system.

h) Ensure the indication and confirmation of upcoming and future external support (both in term as part of the overall commitment as well as additional non non-pooled resources accommodates the planning budget cycle.

i) The increased use of the Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA) modality and code of conduct, promoting common arrangements and procedures.

9.5 Education Expenditure

Policies

a) The cost of school education, including one year’s PPE/ECED, will be shared by central and provincial governments. The ratio of education budget to GDP will be maintained at 4% in line with the government's commitment to secure the right to education for all. A minimum of 15% of the national budget will be allocated for education.

b) Funding to schools will be done by taking schools as the cost unit to ensure the provision of minimum enabling conditions and the meeting of schools’ essential needs for improved performance, and through additional grants allocated on an equity base to reduce disparities between schools not meeting these standards.

c) Provisions will be made to maximize private and public partnerships in secondary education, and ensuring adequate access to disadvantaged and excluded populations.

d) Under the framework of the Government’s Foreign Aid policy (MoF 2014), external support for the education sector will be mobilized through a results-based financing modality to bridge the gaps in resources to support the government to implement major reforms.

Strategies

a) An overall investment and cost sharing framework and supporting legislation for education will be developed to harmonise the finance responsibilities of federal, provincial and local governments.

b) A funding formula based on student teacher ratios, textbook and other instructional material costs will be devised and applied to fund basic schools, enabling them to provide education in line with minimum centrally defined standards. A funding formula based on student–teacher ratios and the subjects offered will be developed to fund secondary schools. Schools serving children in a context with high disparities or children with special needs and schools serving sparsely populated areas through multi grade teaching schemes will receive extra assistance.

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c) The overall focus of the programme will expand from being primarily basic education to pre-primary, basic and secondary education to ensure an approach that includes the full education cycle.

d) Public-private partnerships will be focused on secondary and tertiary levels of education. Resource sharing with I/NGOs and CBOs will be further strengthened.

e) External support to the education sector will be aligned through a sector-wide approach (SWAp) modality to meet the funding gap. Forms of foreign assistance will include budgetary support, earmarked funding, direct funding, technical assistance and in-kind support. In all such cases, government priorities will guide the levels and forms of the support. RBF

SSDP budget estimates

Table 10.a presents an overview of the projected total resources available for the SSDP for the three year, five year and seven year implementation period. As such, it is estimated that USD$ 3.4 billion, USD$ 6.6 billion and US$ 11.1 billion will be available to implement the SSDP during the three, five and seven years respectively.

Table 10.a: Financing Envelope

Item7 year Program 5 year Program (2016-

20)3 year Program

(2016-2018)(2016-22)

Amount

Amount ($ billion)

Amount Amount Amount Amount

(NPR billion) (NPR billion) ($billion) (NPR

billion)($

billion)1. Education Sector

Realistic 1309 12.5 786 7.5 401 3.8

High 1629 15.5 916 8.7 441 4.2

Low 1191 11.3 737 7.0 386 3.72. SSDP

Realistic 1162 11.1 698 6.6 356 3.4

High 1447 13.8 814 7.7 392 3.7

Low 1058 10.1 654 6.2 342 3.3

The projections of the total cost for the SSDP for these periods are based on the assumptions that have been stated in table 10.b with regard to Nepal’ GDP growth and the share of the GDP that will be allocated to the education with subsequently, the share of SSDP within that allocation.

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Table 10.b: Assumptions medium scenario

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

20 20/21

20 21/22

2022/23

Real GDP growth 3.0 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.6 4.0

Inflation growth 7.2 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0

GDP growth current price 10.2 10.0 10.2 10.4 10.7 11.0 11.3 11.6 12.0

Education share in GDP 3.7 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.8 4.9 5.0

SSDP share in education budget 97.1 88.5 88.5 88.5 88.5 88.5 88.5 88.5 88.5

GoN share in GDP 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9

US$1 = NPR 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105 105

When comparing the expected available resource envelop with the currently projected cost of the implementation for the SSDP as presented in table 10.1, a deficit is observed of USD$ 1,03 billion for the implementation of the SSDP.

Table 10.1: SSDP budget estimates 2016/17–2022/23 (in USD$ million)

Program 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23Total:

7 years In %

ECED 6

6.73 73.

45 81.19 89.6

7 98.6

0 108.06 118.39 636.0

8 5.2

Basic 75

9.65 844.

33 929.53 779.75 842.21 926.75 988.57 6,070.80 50.0Secondary (incl. TV subjects) 324.75 418.42 509.88 595.23 539.33 544.34 593.29 3525.23 29.0

NFE&LLL 3

0.67 34.

36 38.14 41.8

9 46.0

7 50.6

8 55.7

5 297.5

7 2.5

TPD&M 9

3.67 106.

91 118.95 131.39 141.32 151.34 168.09 911.6

7 7.5

G&M 1

6.22 17.

73 19.48 21.4

3 23.5

7 25.9

3 28.5

2 152.8

9 1.3

CID

6.95 7.

65 8.4

1 9.25 10.1

8 11.1

9 12.3

1 65.95 0.5

M&E

4.64 5.

23 5.7

6 6.33 6.94 7.64 8.40 44.94 0.4

Org. Mgt. 4

5.55 50.

11 55.12 60.6

3 66.6

9 73.3

6 80.7

0 432.1

5 3.6

Grand Total 1,348

.83 1,558.

17 1,766.46 1,735.55 1,774.92 1,899.29 2,054.02 12,137.26 1

00

It is estimated that the Government will finance, on an average, about US$ 5,280 million of the total requirement over the first five year programme period. The share of required external resources is expected to be about US$ 1,320 million during the same period, which is expected to reduce as percentage as a result of more external resources being needed to recover from the impact of the 2015 earthquake during the first years of the SSDP implementation period and on average comprise of 20% of the total funds required for the first five years of the SSDP (Table 10.2).

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Table 10.2: Sources of financing

In USD$ million

Time period

Three year2016/17–2022/23

Five year2016/17–2018/19

Seven year2016/17—2020/21

Government 2,618 5,280 9,213

External funding 782 1,320 1,887

Pooling funds

Non pooling funds

Other funds

External funds (in %) 23 20 17

Pooling

Non pooling

Total 3,400 6,600 11,100

9.6 Allocations within the education budget

Policies

a) Basic and secondary education will be considered the highest priorities in terms of resource allocation, followed by tertiary education. Basic education will remain to receive the largest share of the allocated resources with an envisioned 50 % followed by secondary education with 27.2%, pre-primary education with 5.2%, and non-formal education and life-long learning with 2.5%. Within basic and secondary education, skills development through technical and vocational education and training (TVET) will be strengthened, receiving 1.9 %.

b) At the school level, the proportion of 52.89 to 47.11 % between teacher salaries to non-teacher salary costs at the beginning of the SSDP will be gradually increased to 57.01 to 42.99 %.

c) In order to fulfil the commitment of the government to ensure enabling conditions in basic education, provisions will be made to allocate adequate resources for teachers, textbooks, classrooms and instructional improvements.

Strategies

a) A minimum of fifty percent of education expenditure will be allocated to basic education including recurrent and development costs. This will permit the funding of free basic education and support for other interventions.

b) Different options, such as (i) government decrees, (ii) earmarked grants and (iii) allocations in local government budgets will be used to assure the specified proportion of non-salary budgets. Schools will receive grants to support their minimum instructional

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activities. Additional assistance will be made available to them from local governments’ budgets. These grants will support infrastructural and other development costs. Community and NGO resources will also be mobilized to meet shortfalls for implementing SIPs.

9.7 Funding modalities and flows

Policies

a) Schools will be funded through multiple modalities. Recurrent funds to schools will flow directly from the central level through DEOs. Development funds will flow from local governments.

b) The school financing policy will be directed towards promoting schools’ autonomy with flexibility and accountability.

c) The external resources committed to support the SSDP will be utilized through a Sector Wide Approach and result based financing modality.

Strategies

a) Options for school funding modalities include: (i) block grants, (ii) earmarked grants, (iii) performance-based grant, and (iv) need-based grants.

b) Cost sharing strategy (between local and central government) developed and enforced – Central government to provide grants to schools that cover the cost of school teachers and head-teachers, teaching and learning materials, and instructional support. Local government to cover management and operational costs including infrastructure, scholarships and family subsidies.

c) Conditional grants – Central government to provide grants to local governments with weak fiscal base in order to achieve national goals and targets.

d) Performance grants – central government to award lump sums to local governments that outperform on achieving national goals and targets.

e) Local revenue – Local governments to earmark a certain percentage of their revenues for education development within their jurisdictions.

f) Partnerships – Local governments to partner with private and public sectors to collect funds for education.

g) The proposed fund flow mechanism will be as follows:

o ECD and non-formal education budget will be provided to local governments as earmarked grants that can be reallocated by local governments; and

o The present arrangements for channelling block grants, earmarked grants and performance grants will be continued including per capita funding.

h) Development budgets will be channelled through local governments; salary and non-salary recurrent costs as per set criteria will be provided to schools by the central government through DEOs.

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9.8 Financial Management and reporting

Policies

a) Transparency and accountability will be ensured for financial transactions at all levels.

b) Capacity will be developed for efficient financial management and reporting system at the local level.

Strategies

a) To ensure transparency, the carrying out of social and financial audits will be made mandatory.

b) The DoE will provide guidelines for the use of grants by schools. The guidelines will allow latitude for schools to use grant money to serve the needs and interests of students and schools. SMCs will undertake all financial transactions in an efficient and transparent way within the framework of education and financial administration regulations and guidelines.

c) Compliance with financial rules and regulation will be monitored at all levels.

d) Capacity will be built on accounting and monitoring functions of DEOs, the timely preparation of trimester financial statements, computerization of financial management system, maintaining proper records of school assets. Independent reviewers will be assigned to review accounting and monitoring.

e) A Financial Management Framework and Fiduciary Risk Governance Improvement Plan will be developed to reduce fiduciary risks and financial irregularities in the sector. It will be regularly updated to include issues of concern.

f) Fund-flow arrangements from central level to DEOs and schools will be strengthened through streamlining the mid-term expenditure framework (MTEF) system and the development of financial envelopes for DEOs with the locking in of regular activities but allowing flexibility for additional activities.

g) Annual planning and budgeting system should be strengthened and based on results and outputs based costing and financing, rather than inputs and processes.

h) Financial monitoring reports (FMR) by developing formats, including a simplified financial record-keeping system at school level.

c) Computer automation of the FMR generation process for marked improvement in FM reporting system.

i) Transparent grants management mechanism will be developed and enforced based on the lessons learned under the SSRP to minimize PFM risks.

j) The Financial Management Framework and Fiduciary Risk Governance Improvement Plan will be a part of JFA which will be finalized by joint appraisal. This plan will cover education sector, including center, districts (in future will be revised to cover province and districts) and schools in terms of financial management, procurement and other governance issues.

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NPC (2015b) Nepal Earthquake 2015: Post Disaster Needs Assessment. Vol. A: Key Findings. Kathmandu: National Planning Commission. Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/SAR/nepal/PDNA%20Volume%20A%20Final.pdf (accessed 16 January 2016)

NPC (2015c) Nepal Earthquake 2015: Post Disaster Needs Assessment. Vol. B: sector reports. Kathmandu: National Planning Commission. Kathmandu: National Planning Commission. Available at: http://un.org.np/sites/default/files/PDNA-volume-B.pdf (accessed 16 January 2016)

NRE (2015) Assessment on inclusive education focusing on children with disability, Final Report: Kathmandu: Handicap International on behalf of Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE).

Parajuli, M.N. (2013). Rhetoric of developing technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Nepal: Analysis of the financing of the sub-sector. Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development Journal, 13 (1), 58-68.

Poyck et al. (2016). Independent joint evaluation of SSRP. Kathmandu: European Union

RTI (2014). Nepal Early Grade Reading Assessment, Education Management Efficiency Study and Teacher Observation Study (April 2014). Kathmandu: USAID.

UNESCO (2015) Incheon Declaration of the World Education Forum. World Education Forum 2015, 19-22 May 2015, Incheon, Republic of Korea. Available at: http://en.unesco.org/world-education-forum-2015/incheon-declaration (accessed 16 January 2016)

UNICEF (2016). Global initiative on Out Of School Children, Nepal Country Study. February 2016. Kathmandu: United Nations Children Fund.

United Nations (2015). Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: 2015–2030. Adopted at Third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan, 18 March 2015. Available at: http://www.preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf (accessed 16 January 2016)

88

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http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/SAR/nepal/PDNA%20Volume%20A%20Final.pdf


Annexes

89

Annex 1: SSDP Logical Framework

The vision for Nepal’s school education is

Intervention logic Verifiable indicators Sources of verification AssumptionsGoal:- To contribute to socio-economic development and

reduce disparities in the country through a continuous development of its human resources capacity.

- Trends in average, median, maximum and minimum living standards

- Trends in productivity in economic sub-sectors

- Trends in unemployment rates

- Population Census

- Sample surveys (NLSS, NDHS)

- Subject specific studies

- Economic surveys

Purpose:- To facilitate all citizens to have the opportunity to

become functionally literate, numerate, and to develop the basic life skills and knowledge required to enjoy a productive life, taking into account the diversity of context and needs and with regards to the forthcoming federalization of the country

- Literacy and numeracy rates

- Average years of education per citizen

- Disparity of SSDP key performance indicators between provinces

- Annual work plans and budgets

- Population census

- Sample surveys (NLSS, NDHS)


- Education Management Information System

- Children and adults make use of what they learn to improve their economic activity (productivity) and standards of living

- Nepal is highly diverse in terms of geography, culture, socio economic status, needs and opportunities

- Federal State restructuring is undertaken in the first two years of SSDP implementation

Objective 1: Early childhood education development - To promote a rights-based approach to ECED

programmes for developing the physical, socio-emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and moral potential of children below 5 years, and ensure school readiness.

- % of four years age population enrolled in ECED (EOP target …%)

- % of new entrants in Grade one with at least one year ECED experience (EOP target …..%)

- EMIS Flash Reports

- Yearly sample survey by MoE

- ECED experience helps prepare children for Grade 1 and helps reduce drop-out and repetition rates

- Access to ECED has been disproportional towards urban areas

Estimated 5 year budget USD$ 409.64 million

Objective 2: Basic education- To ensure universal access to quality basic

education for all 5-12 year old children

- To ensure student readiness for secondary education with required learning competencies

- To promote life skills and value-based education and impart early orientation on the national economy and harmony in socio-cultural diversity

- NIR (EOP targets 96%)

- NER (EOP targets … % )

- Grade 8 survival rate (EOP target ….%)

- Number of schools meeting MECs

- % of grades 3, 5 and 8 completers achieving minimum learning


- Periodic sample surveys and studies

- District level examinations at Grade 8 and periodic achievement tests in Grades 3, 5, and 8

- Children enrol in and complete basic education

- Education will be free and compulsory up to Grade 8 as directed in the 2071 (2015) Nepal Constitution.

- The Education Act is amended to validate Grade 1-8 basic structure

Estimated 5 year budget USD$ 4,155.48 million

Objective 3: Secondary education- To make students ready for the world of work by

developing skilled human resources.

- To focus on access to education without compromising quality.

- To provide options and accredited learning

- Number of schools meeting MECs

- Transition rate from Grades 8 to 9 (EOP target 80%) and 10 to 11

- GER/NER (EOP target …%/ …% respectively)

- Gender Parity Index (EOP target 0.96)


- Periodic sample surveys and studies

- EMIS Flash Report

- OCE reports

- Students enrol in and complete secondary education

- Market demand for Grade 10 and 12 completers with certified technical and vocational skills.

Estimated 5 year budget USD$ 2,266.14 million

- Education Act is amended to validate Grade 9-12

90


Intervention logic Verifiable indicators Sources of verification Assumptionspathways for students between technical and general secondary education

- To strengthen institutional links and transition to higher education

- To prepare students to uphold and fulfil their civic duties.

- SLC and HSLC pass rates as percentage of initial enrolment and exam appearance (EOP targets …% and …% respectively)

- % of learning achievement in core subjects (EOP ….% points over base level)

- % of Grade 10 completers achieving minimum learning

- Periodic achievement tests in Grade 10

secondary structure

Objective 3: Non formal education and life-long learning - To enhance functional literacy and cultivate the

reading and learning habits among youths and adults

- Complement formal education’ by providing alternative and flexible modes of education

- No. of graduates in literacy classes

- % of population with functional literacy (EOP targets …% for 6+ age group and …% for 15+ age group)

- No. of children (re)enrolled in formal education through NFE programmes (EOP target: …. children)

- CBS reports

- Functional literacy surveys (sample based)

- Continuous learning opportunities for youths and adults will bridge the gap between formal education and the world of work including the promotion of career based skill development

- Beneficiaries are capable of maintaining skills and using them for a more productive life


Objective 4: Technical education and vocational training (TEVT)- To mitigate unemployment.

- To introduce programmes leading to employability

- To produce skilled and semi-skilled human resource capable of earning decent incomes

- To produce the human resources required to meetthe developmental needs

- No. of students completing the secondary education technical stream (EOP target 263,250 students)

- No. of schools providing a technical secondary education stream (EOP target: 240 schools)

- EMIS Flash reports

- Technical SLC results


- Producing skilled human resource to meet the developmental needs of the country and global market will minimize poverty by promoting employable skills

- Students are interested in further developing TVET skills and knowledge to improve their employability


Objective 5 : Teacher professional development - To enhance teachers' qualifications and professional

competencies to better facilitate student learning processes

- The provision of qualified competent teachers

- Ensure teaching-learning days and that teachers’ time on task is in line with government directives and guidelines.

- Maintain high morale and motivation for teaching and learning among teachers and students.

- % of basic and secondary level teachers with required qualifications and training (EOP targets …% and ….% respectively)

- % of basic and secondary level teachers with required set of competencies (EOP targets …% and ….% respectively)

- % of teachers with required certification (EOP targets ….% for both basic and secondary levels)

- Average number of days of Teacher attendance (EOP target 220 days)


- NCED progress reports

- Teacher Management Information System

- Teachers motivated, able and willing to apply learned knowledge and skills in teaching situations.

- Federal State will develop and monitor minimum standards and competencies for all levels and provinces will undertake recruitment, appointment, professional development and management of teachers


Objective 6: Governance and Management- Effective and efficient delivery of public education

services within the decentralized governance and management structure

- Strengthened institutional arrangements for effective implementation

- Strengthened financial management at all levels in the education sector

- Annual status and audit reports

- SSDP SWAp joint reviews and consultation aide memoires

- The Democratic Federation of Nepal will be governed by a federal state, under which seven provinces will be established


91


Intervention logic Verifiable indicators Sources of verification Assumptions- Effective implementation of the SSDP through the

sector wide approach mechanism- Strengthened management and accountability at

school level - Joint Performance Assessment

Framework

Objective 7: Capacity development- To prepare the human and institutional resources

within the education sector for the forthcoming federalization

- To improve the quality and efficiency of service delivery through the establishment of a capable and result-orientedworkforce in the public education sector

- Costed CID plan to accommodate federalization at all levels

- Timely delivery of relevant quality services that are valued and used by clients

- Physical and financial progress measured as % of annual targets and budget

- Number of low performing schools that have been supported with development and completion of quality improvement programmes under SIPs

- Capacity Development Needs Assessment Report

- ERO agency-wise performance assessment reports

- EMIS Flash reports

- Status reports

- Improved performance and cost-efficiency will contribute to improved client satisfaction, reach and impact of educational services

Estimated 5 year budget USD$ 42.44 million.

Objective 8: Disaster risk reduction and school safety- To ensure all children can access safe enabling

learning environments.

- To mainstream comprehensive school safety and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the education sector by strengthening school level disaster management and resilience among communities

- Number of disaster resilient schools (re)constructed (EOP target: ….. school)

- Number of schools retrofitted and retro-maintained (EOP target: 50% of all Schools)

- Strengthen school disaster management

- Institutionalization of risk reduction and resilience education

- EMIS Flash Report

- Annual Status reports

- Main Post Disaster Needs Assessment findings

- Nepal is located in an earthquake prone region

Estimated 5 year budget USD…million.

Objective 9: Monitoring, evaluation and assessment- To monitor programme inputs, processes, and

outputs and evaluate the impact of programmes

- To inform policy making bodies about the status of the education system in general and learning achievements in particular.

- The provision of regular feedback to implementing agencies about the status of programmes and activities

- To ensure that data is accessible for duty bearers and stakeholders to inform planning at local and district levels

- Timely Flash Reports, status reports, financial management reports (FMRs) and implementation progress reports

- Periodic student assessment reports

- School based EMIS, district and school profile cards

- Equity in education index at national, provincial, district and sub-district levels

- Timely dissemination of EMIS and student assessment reports to wider stakeholders

- Baseline, annual, mid-term, and EOP evaluation reports

- Flash reports

- EMIS reports

- Student assessment reports

- Aide memoires

- EOP evaluation reports

- FMRs

- Improved planning, management, and M&E will lead to improved relevance and effectiveness of MoE services and products

- Strengthened access to and use of education data by implementers, beneficiaries and stakeholders will lead to strengthened accountability and quality of data and increased evidence and needs based planning


Objective 9: Examination and accreditation- A credible system of certification of educational

qualifications

- Accreditation and acceptance of certification across the country

- Strengthened classroom based assessment

- Examination reform

- Flash reports

- EMIS reports

- Students assessment reports

- Aide memoires

- Improved accreditation and examination reforms of education outcomes

Estimated 5 year budget USD…million

Objective 10: Finance - % of physical and financial progress - Aide memoires - Nepal is likely to have a reduced GDP growth rate in

92


Intervention logic Verifiable indicators Sources of verification Assumptions- Generate adequate financial resources for

education development.

- Provide adequate resources to support educational policy directions

- To manage available resources effectively

- To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of aid available for SSDP implementation

- % of development partners and of aid flows that use GoN’s public financial management system

- % of aid provided on programme-based approach, consistent with the SSDP

- Status reports

- Progress reports

- FMRs

- Special studies

the first years of the SSDP implementation due to the impact of the events in 2015.

Total estimated budget for 5 years: USD: ….million

93


Annex 2: SSDP Result Framework

Vision 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.

Mission To produce the needed human resources to elevate Nepal’s status to a least developed country (LDC) by 2022.

Purpose To ensure that the education system is inclusive and equitable in terms of access, participation and learning outcomes, with a special focus on reducing related disparities among and within targeted groups.

To enhance the relevance and quality of education.

To develop an education system that is resilient to disasters.

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.

To develop a sustainable financing system by introducing a cost-sharing modality between central, provincial, and local governments.

To accommodate the political and administrative restructuring of the education sector in line with identified needs and the federal context.

To facilitate the realization of the aspirations of the Nepali people within the global and national context.

To create a skilled workforce for Nepal’s economic development to enable it to graduate from LDC status.

Key Results

Key results Verifiable indicators Reference Data sources Baseline Targets

Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7

1. Early Childhood Education and Development1.1 Improved access and equity in PPE/ECED1.1.1 Evidence/ demand based planning and allocation of early childhood education and development (ECED) centres

% of 4 year old children receiving 1 year of ECED

EMIS …% (… children) 667,341 672,159 676,086 679,121 678,860 676,118 673,172

Number of years of free and compulsory pre-primary education guaranteed in legal frameworks

SDG 1 1

Number of models of ECED programmes are developed

Monitoring/ status

94



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7reports

Number of ECED centres with minimum infrastructure and standards

50,000

School based 34,000

Home-based/community-based

16,000

1.1.2 Parents, communities and local governments engage in managing and planning ECED resources

Number of centres that apply the parental engagement package

Monitoring/ status reports

3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000

1.1.3 Need based expansion of access to ECED

Number of children reached through programmes in communities with high disparity and for children with special needs

1.2 Improved quality of ECED1.2.1 Improved quality of ECED facilitators

Number of ECED facilitator positions 32,016 32,053 32,231 32,369 32,357 32,233 32,099

1.2.2 Improved learning materials and environment

Number of school-based ECED/pre-primary centres meeting minimum standards

32,016 32,053 32,231 32,369 32,357 32,233 32,099

1.2.3 Enhanced facilitators’ competencies and professional development

Number of MToTs for ECED facilitators’ basic training 200 200 200 200 200 200 1,400

Number of facilitators that have received one month of induction training

8,000 8,000 8,000 8,000 800040,000

Number of facilitators with the basic competencies

40,000

1.2.4 Assessment of early childhood development

Facilitators are using classroom-based formative assessment

1.2.5 Strengthened cross-sectoral linkages

Number of early childhood development (ECD) network meetings

320 320 320 320 320 320 320

95




2. Basic Education2.1 Improved access and equity in basic education2.1.1 Free basic education

Grade 1 gross intake rate:

Boys

Girls

Grade 1 net intake rate

Boys

Girls

Gross enrolment rate, basic education

Boys

Girls

Net enrolment rate, basic education

Boys

Girls

2.1.2 Compulsory basic education

% of children with disabilities enrolled in basic education

Percentage of Grade 1 new intakes with ECED/PPC experience

Boys

Girls

2.1.3 Implementation of the Consolidated Equity Strategy

Aggregate number of out-of-school-children (OOSC) in 10 districts with largest disparity in education outcomes as identified

GPE ESPIG

96



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7through the Equity Index ranking

Gender parity index

Average of 10 districts with highest gender disparity

% of schools that have adapted infrastructure and materials to accommodate CwDs

SDG 365 365 365 365 365 365 365

Number of schools that provide special education for CwDs

34 34 34 34 34 34 34

Number of schools supplied with ICT resources for CwDs (visually impaired) 10 10 30 40 50 30 30

Number of students that receive Mid-day meal provisions for basic education and ECED in targeted districts

350,200 355,200 360,200 365,200 370,200 375,200 380,200

By Province

Number of teaching learning days in basic education schools

By Region/Province

Diagnostic and referral centres for CwDs

365 365 365 365 365 365 365

Gender network meetings

2.1.4 Demand based allocation of schools

Number of school relocated and merged based on GIS and demographical mapping

2.1.5 Increased access in remote areas through mobile schools and distance education

Number of mobile schools in remote areas

10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Number of multi-grade multi-level (MGML) schools

96 96 96 96 96 96 96

2.1.6 Incentive and family support schemes

Development of integrated scholarship eligibility criteria

97



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Number of children receiving scholarships to access and participate in education based on

Disabilities and special needs 58,650 60,000 61,000 62,000 63,000 64,000 65,000

Disadvantaged economic context

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

Gender 2,676,164 2,680,774 2,685,391 2,690,017 2,694,651 2,699,293 2,708,602

Remoteness

Caste/ethnicity 1,074,784 1,102,019 1,129,345 1,131,068 1,158,532 1,160,305 1,420,351

2.1.7 Tracking of children’s educational status

Percentage of children (never enrolled or dropped-out) out of school

5-9 years old (boys)

5-9 years old (girls)

5-9 years old (CWDs)



5-12 years old (disabled)

2.2 Improved quality and relevance of basic education2.2.1 School curriculum is child-centred and includes soft skills and competencies

Interactive didactics incorporated in curriculum

Number of school with soft skills incorporated in curriculum

Competency-based curriculum developed

Number of revised textbooks

Number of textbooks with teacher guides based on the

98



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7revised curricula

Number of teacher and officials who have taken curriculum dissemination training

% of schools that provide life skills based health and sexuality education

SDG

2.2.2 Minimum enabling conditions (MECs) are met in all schools

Basic education student attendance rate

Boys

Girls

By region/province

Basic education cycle completion rate

95%

Boys

Girls

By region/province

Students identified as at risk 72.1%

Percentage of schools received all new textbooks within the first two weeks of the academic year 5,112,349 5,121,153 5,129,973 5,138,808 5,147,658 5,156,524 5,165,405

Number of primary level students that have access to supplementary reading materials and book corners

1,765,659 1,765,659 1,765,659 1,765,659 1,765,659 1,765,659 1,765,659

Percentage of schools allocating at least 90 minutes per day to reading instruction (Grades 1–3) .

**?

Percentage of early grade classrooms with learners using student lesson books for reading

**?

99



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7instruction with a 1:1 student ratio

Number of lower secondary level students that have access to supplementary reading materials and book corners

1,544,239 1,544,239 1,544,239 1,544,239 1,544,239 1,544,239 1,544,239

Number of schools receive library corner with at least 50 set of supplementary reading materials in each of 1-5 grades

28,000

Student-teacher ratio at basic level based on approved positions

By province

% of schools that have access to drinking water, functional sanitation and handwashing facilities

Number of traditional schools meeting MECs

874

% of schools meeting MECs 100%

2.2.3 Improved maths and reading skills

Number of schools covered by National Earl Grade Reading Program (NEGRP)

25,000

% of children achieving minimum proficiency (fluency and comprehension) in reading at the end of Grade 3.

SDG EMIS 1,900,000

% of children achieving minimum proficiency in mathematics at the end of basic education

SDG EMIS

2.2.4 Continuous Assessment System (CAS) is effectively implemented

Using classroom based formative assessment

Development and printing of teachers guidebook for CAS

100



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Number of teachers that have received training on CAS

Number of Grade 1 students that are assessed through revised CAS 864,683 866,067 867,452 868,840 870,231 871,623 873,018

2.2.5 Effective implementation of medium of instruction and subject teaching

Percentage of classrooms using the language that the majority of students speak and understand (language of instruction) to deliver reading instruction in the early grades

SDG

% of students in basic education whose first or home language is the language of instruction

Number of schools receiving set of supplementary reading materials developed in Nepali and local languages

2.2.6 Increased learning outcomes

Average learning achievement in maths and science English and Nepali in grade 3



2.2.7 Increased internal efficiency

Repetition rate, basic education

Boys

Girls

Repetition rate, grade 1

Repetition rate, grade 5

Repetition rate, Grade 8

101



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Survival rate by cohort method grade 5

Survival rate by cohort method, grade 8

Completion rate, basic level

Coefficient of internal efficiency at basic level

3. Secondary Education3.1 Improved access and equity in secondary education3.1.1 Ensuring free secondary education

Gross enrolment rate, secondary education

Boys

Girls

Net enrolment rate, secondary education

Boys

Girls

Percentage of children (never enrolled or dropped out) out-of-school



13-16 years old (CwDs)

% of children with disabilities enrolled in secondary education

3.1.2 Implementation of the Equity Strategy

Gender parity index

Average of 10 districts with highest education disparity

ESPIG/ SDG

102



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7% of schools that have adapted infrastructure and materials to accommodate CwDs

SDG

Number of large secondary schools that provide special education for CwDs

1 2 2 2 1

Number of teaching learning days in basic education schools

By region/province

3.1.3 Need based establishment of secondary schools

Number of school relocated and merged based on GIS and demographical mapping

3.1.4 Implementation of a two-tier education system3.1.5 Incentive and family support schemes

Development of integrated scholarship eligibility criteria

Number of children receiving scholarships to access and participate in education based on:

Disabilities and special needs 16,400 22,800 29,200 34,600 13,000 13,000 13,000

Disadvantaged economic context

243,000 243,000 243,000 243,000 243,000 243,000 243,000

Gender 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000

Remoteness 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000

Caste/ethnicity 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500

Merit 500 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

3.2 Improved quality and relevance of secondary education3.2.1 Secondary education curriculum is

Interactive didactics incorporated in curriculum

103



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7competency based Number of schools applying Soft

skills incorporated curriculum

Competency based curriculum developed

Number of textbooks developed based on the revised curriculum (including competence-based soft skills)

Number of textbooks with teacher guides based on the revised curricula

Number of teacher and officials’ participation curriculum dissemination training.

% of schools that provide life skills based health and sexuality education

3.2.2 Minimum enabling conditions for secondary schools met in all community schools

Secondary education student attendance rate

Boys

Girls

By region/province

Secondary education cycle completion rate

Boys

Girls

By region/province

Student-teacher ratio at secondary level based on approved positions

SDG

By province/region

104



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Number of secondary schools equipped with science labs

Number of secondary schools equipped with libraries with adequate reading materials

2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000

3.2.3 Strengthen secondary science stream

Enrolment grade 11-12 science stream

Boys

Girls

% of constituencies with at least one secondary school with science stream

By province

% of constituencies with at least one secondary school with integrated science lab for grades 9-10, science labs for grades 11-12 and IT enabled learning and computer literacy

200

By region/province

3.2.4 Effective implementation of CAS


3.2.5 Assessment and examination reform

Implementation of single subject certification in the school leaving certificate (SLC) and higher secondary examinations

GPE ESPIG Single subject issued for +2 exam

+2 pass rate

By province

Girls’ pass rate

Gross enrolment ratio for tertiary education

105



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 73.2.6 Reduced disparity in performance of secondary schools

Number of lowest performing schools to receive conditional booster grant

750 750 750 750 750 750 750

Number of volunteer teachers to support in the five districts with lowest outcomes in core subjects

500 500 500 500 500 500 500

3.2.7 School support networks through establishment of lead schools

Number of cluster lead schools established

350 350 353

3.2.8 Model (large) schools with ICT

Number of model schools established

1000

Large secondary schools 5 25 70 50 50 50 50

Of which residential schools for children with disabilities

100

3.2.9 SLC improvement strategy

SLC pass rate

By province

Girls pass rate

3.2.10 Increased learning outcomes

Average learning achievement in maths and science in Grade 10

Average learning achievement in maths, science, English and Nepali in Grade 12

3.2.11 Increased internal efficiency

Repetition rate, basic education

Boys

Girls




106



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Transition rate from Grade 8 to Grade 9

Transition rate from Grade 10 to Grade 11

Survival rate by cohort method Grade 10

Survival rate by cohort method Grade 12

Completion rate grade 10

Completion rate Grade 12

Coefficient of internal efficiency at secondary level

3.3 Enhanced governance and management in secondary education3.3.1 Effective decentralized school based management

% of schools with functional school management committee (SMC)

By region/province

% of secondary schools with single head teacher for Grades 9-12

By region/province

3.3.2 Effective monitoring of students’ education status and performance

Number of schools where Educational Management Information System (EMIS) data is shared with SMC

By region/province

4. Technical Education and Vocational Training4.1 Improved access and equity in technical education and vocational training4.1.1 Expansion of access to school and non-school based

Number of students enrolled in the secondary technical and vocational stream

13,140 20,340 24,570 37,800 46800 5,5800 64,800

107



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7technical education and vocational training (TEVT) programmes in areas with low employment and economic status

Boys

Girls

Establishment of schools offering 5 specific subjects in TEVT curricula

240

4.1.2 Need based support programme for CwDs to access TEVT programmes

Number of CwDs enrolled in TEVT programmes

4.2 Improved quality and relevance in technical education and vocational training4.2.1 Enforced compliance with minimum standards within TEVT programmes

% of TEVT programmes complying with minimum standards

4.2.2 TEVT programmes updated based on regular need assessments

Number of TEVT programmes using classroom based formative assessment

4.2.3 Teacher professional development (TPD) for TEVT experts and facilitators

Number of experts/facilitators receiving TEVT TPD

5. Non Formal Education and Lifelong Learning5.1 Improved access and equity through non formal education and lifelong learning5.1.1 Need based expansion of non-formal education (NFE) programmes to areas with low education outcomes and high disparities

Functional literacy and numeracy rate 6+

SDG

Functional literacy and numeracy rate 15+

SDG

Literacy Gender Parity Index (15+ years), ratio

Number of children access and complete non-formal education services

5.1.2 Tailored NFE interventions for CwDs,

Number of CwDs being enrolled in NFE programmes

108



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7working children and out of school youth

Girls

By province

5.1.3 Strengthened transition to formal education and/or accreditation of NFE programmes

Number of children that re-enter formal education through NFE programmes

Girls

By province

5.2 Improved quality and relevance of non-formal education programmes5.2.1 Links with livelihood support packages for lifelong learning (LLL) programmes

Number of centres that run basic level NFE programmes for women

284

Number of centres that run secondary level NFE programmes for women

18

5.2.2 Targeted programmes to support social and financial literacy

Number of centres that implement community-based early grade reading assessments

5.2.3 Accredited open schools

Number of secondary schools (9-10) providing open school concept 84 217 217 217 217 217 217

Number of secondary schools (11-12) providing open school concept 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

5.2.4 Capable and competent NFE facilitators

Number of NFE trainers/experts trained

100 100 100 100 100 100 100

5.3 Improved quality and relevance of lifelong learning programmes5.3.1 Strengthening institutional capacity to implement LLL programmes through community learning centres (CLCs)

Number of CLCs running LLL programmes

200 200 200 200 200 200 200

5.3.2 Capable and competent LLL

Number of LLL facilitators

109



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7facilitators

6. Teacher Professional Development and Management6.1 Quality education through improved teacher (re)distribution and management6.1.1 Increased number of teachers with minimum qualifications and competencies

% of teachers with the minimum qualifications at basic level

% of teachers with the minimum competencies at basic level

% of teachers with the minimum qualifications at secondary level

% of teachers with the minimum competencies at secondary level

6.1.2 Enhanced student-subject teacher ratios in upper basic (6-8) and secondary levels, especially for maths, science and English subjects

Number of secondary education schools having qualified and trained subject teachers for science and maths

Student-subject teacher ratio in secondary level

By province/region

6.1.3 Ensure availability of teachers and subject teachers in all schools as per norms

Number of schools having three or more subject teachers

6.1.4 Professional development of full-time head teachers

Number of schools with separate head teacher in position

Female head teachers

6.1.5 Effective implementation of the Teachers’ Competency Framework

% of teachers with the minimum competencies at Basic level

% of teachers with the minimum competencies at secondary level

6.1.6 Mechanism for quality assurance of teacher’ professional development

Number of teachers receiving basic pre-service training

6.2 Teacher recruitment

110



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 76.2.1 Redefine the minimum qualifications and competencies for teacher candidates

Number of teachers that comply with revised minimum qualifications and competencies

Female

By province

6.2.2 Mandatory induction training of at least one-month for all new teachers at time of joining service

Number of teachers completed one month induction training

Female

By province

6.2.3 Provision of separate head teacher position in all schools in a phased manner

Number of schools with separate head teacher positions

Female

By province

6.3 Teacher (re)deployment6.3.1 Undertake teacher redeployment from areas with low to high student-teacher ratios (STRs), and from primary to upper levels

Number of teachers redeployed from low to high STR schools

By region/province

Number of teachers redeployed from primary to (lower)secondary level

By region/province

6.3.2 Provision of subject teachers, especially in maths, science and English in a phased manner

Number of schools having qualified and trained subject teachers for science

1,000

Number of schools having qualified and trained subject teachers for maths

1,000

Number of schools having qualified and trained subject teachers for English

111




6.4 Teacher management6.4.1 Teachers having minimum qualifications, competencies and certification

% of teachers with the minimum competencies at Grades 9-10

% of teachers in basic and secondary level schools with required certification

% of teachers in secondary level schools with required certification

Share of female teachers

At basic level

At secondary level

6.5 Teacher professional development6.5.1 Teachers having sufficient pre and in service professional development

Number of teachers receiving basic pre service training 4,000 5,000 6,000 5,000 6,000 6,000 6,000

Number of teachers receiving basic in service training

At basic level 51,089 51,089 51,089 51,089 51,089 51,089 51,089

Female

At secondary level 10,234 10,234 10,234 10,234 10,234 10,234 10,234

Female

From traditional schools 400 400 400 400 400

6.5.2 Certification/ induction training (one month) organized for all newly recruited or redeployed teachers for science and maths

% of teachers in basic and secondary level schools to have required certification

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

6.5.3 Develop revised training programmes for subject teachers

Number of head teachers trained

112



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7and head teachers6.5.4 Strengthened secondary education science and maths teachers

Number of schools in which science and maths teachers have been trained

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

6.5.5 Implementing mechanisms for lead schools to support feeder schools in professional development of teachers and whole school improvement

Number of lead schools established

6.5.6 Mandatory Continuou Professional Development (CPD) using centrally designed modules for teachers of different levels and subjects

Number of school teachers in Grades 1-3 receive training in early grade reading


6.5.7 Design and implement a programme for improving teachers’ proficiency in English and mother tongue, and improved materials and methods for teaching English through collaboration with a Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) agency

Number of teachers certified with English proficiency

6.5.8 Promotion of subject-specific teacher circles in lead and feeder schools

6.6 Teacher performance evaluation6.6.1 Provision of student/beneficiary monitoring of teacher attendance

113



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Head teacher to conduct mandatory biannual performance appraisals of all teachers in their schools

6.7 Strengthened TPD institutions6.7.1 Strengthen and reform the resource centre arrangement 6.7.2 Strengthen education training centres (ETCs’) staffing and infrastructure for curriculum and training at provincial level

Number of ETCs with … staff

By province

7. Governance and Management7.1 Strengthened institutional arrangements7.1.1 Implementing constitutional mandate of federal arrangement and other policy reforms

Education Bill adapted to constitutional provisions

7.1.2 Establish National Education Board (NEB) and align administrative functions in existing examining bodies (OCE, HSEB)7.1.3 Support packages for areas that have very low education indicators7.1.4 ETCs, lead resource centres (LRCs) and resource centres (RCs)/ resource persons (RPs) function under guidance and control of National Centre for Education Development-

114



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7Curriculum Development Centre (NCED-CDC)

7.2 Strengthened financial management7.2.1 Establish internal control and oversight capacity within the Ministry of Education (MoE) for supervision of district education offices (DEOs) to strengthen compliance with financial regulations

Implementation of Financial Management Action Plan (FMAP)

Strengthening financial management at school level

Effective utilization of SIPs by schools to enhance quality

Number and percentage of unsettled audit observations resolved

Number of civil servants trained on educational management and planning

Number of teachers trained on educational management and planning

7.2.2 Recruit/appoint chief finance and administrative officer positions within DoEs with qualifications relevant for the position

Non-development and development share of SSDP budget

Percentage execution of both non-development and development budget of SSDP

7.2.3 DoE supervision/ inspection of school level financial management including teacher payrolls and grant utilization. 7.2.4 Improved compliance with financial regulations evidenced by reduced number of Office of the Auditor General (OAG) recurring observations related to overspending

Reduction of % of ineligible expenses

By province

115



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7of budget heads including teachers’ salaries

7.3 Strengthened management and accountability at school level 7.3.1 Full-time head teachers lead school improvement in large secondary schools with authority and accountability7.3.2 Creation of a separate cadre for full-time head teachers7.3.3 Define responsibilities and authority for school management vis-à-vis SMCs 7.3.4 Work out arrangements for schools’ performance appraisal and head teacher accountability7.3.5 Development of guidelines in financial management and related training at the school level

8. Capacity Development 8.1 Capacity development as integral part of planning8.1.1 Develop a costed capacity development plan that outlines competencies and skill sets for different position and levels

8.2 Teacher professional feedback and peer support mechanisms8.2.1 Establishment of peer support and mentoring/coaching schemes through non-monetary incentives for teachers who can be

116



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7mentors

9. Disaster Risk Reduction and School Safety9.1 All children receiving education in safe learning facilities9.1.1 Develop and implement time-bound action plan for the (re)construction of safe basic and secondary schools

Number of schools rebuilt/retrofitted in seismically vulnerable zones

21,000

Number of classrooms rebuilt in seismically vulnerable zones

38,000

Number of classrooms retrofitted and retro-maintained in seismically vulnerable zones

19,500

9.1.2 Develop and approve prototype designs for new school construction that are resilient to multiple hazards and have inclusive designs

Number of disaster resilient basic schools built

9.1.3 Increase numbers of qualified staff for technical oversight during construction and/or retrofitting of schools.

Number of disaster resilient secondary schools built

9.1.4 Define and monitor community involvement by introducing block grant modes to ensure safe school facilities and more resilient communities

Number of schools retrofitted

9.1.5 Register and monitor all organisations involved in school construction to ensure they comply with government rules and regulations

Number of schools retro maintenance

9.2 Strengthen school disaster management9.2.1 Develop and Number of classrooms 7,000 7,000 7,000 5,000 4,000 4,000 4,000

117



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7monitor a standard set of approved key messages for comprehensive school safety and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in schools and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for different types of disasters

established with minimum conditions and DRR requirements

Number of school blocks (4 rooms) established with minimum conditions and DRR requirements

7,000 7,000 7,000

Number of damaged classrooms repaired and retrofitted

6,500 6,500 6,500

Numbers of schools retrofitted 150 150 150 150 150 150 150

9.2.2 Training of teachers, students and SMCs in disaster risk management (DRM), by developing and disseminating standard teaching-learning materials on DRM9.2.3 Incorporate key DRR messages into professional development and training packages. Disseminate these through a range of different mechanisms to reach children, teachers, SMC members and communities9.2.4 Develop a set of standard educational training packages on DRR for teachers, head teachers and SMCs, using a range of different approaches including audio-visual materials such as videos, DVDs and dramas

118



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 79.2.5 Provide guidelines for head teachers and SMCs on incorporating risk assessment and school safety planning into the SIPs9.2.6 Include specific DRR related roles and responsibilities in the terms of reference of SMCs 9.2.7 Mobilize child clubs to engage children in active learning for DRR 9.2.8 Ensuring that all school disaster management materials are accessible for all and have been developed on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) principles 9.2.9 Review, update and regularly test the contingency and preparedness plans of the education sector9.2.10 Incorporate a DRR component within EMIS to ensure it can capture both preventative and response activities within the education sector

9.3 Institutionalizing risk reduction and resilience education9.3.1 Review the scope and sequence of the curriculum and incorporate learning outcomes for DRR throughout ECED,

119



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7primary and secondary grades9.3.2 Based on the revised curricula, update the pre- and in-service teacher training and other relevant training packages to incorporate DRR9.3.3 Children become aware about disaster risk mitigation strategies and are able to assess risks from their environment and trigger fast and adequate responses to thereby minimize human losses during disasters9.3.4 Make all risk reduction and education accessible for all and incorporate Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) principles9.3.5 Integrate DRR into academic, informal (non-formal) and professional curricula progressively from basic awareness to vocational training and advanced knowledge and skill sets9.3.6 Use appropriate provisions, such as local curricula, to roll out risk reduction and resilience education9.3.7 Use non-formal education and appropriate venues to

120



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7disseminate risk reduction and resilience education.9.3.8 Develop a communications strategy to promote the use of a range of tools to disseminate DRR information to children, communities and parents

10. M&E and Assessment10.1 Increased institutional capacity for policy level analysis and evidence based planning10.1.1 Strengthen the institutional capacity of the Education Review Office (ERO) to independently review and audit the education system including student assessments


10.1.2 Strengthen the policy level EMIS in its linkage to the Department of Education’s (DoE’s) EMIS and other education data sets as well as capacity to undertake formative research10.1.3 Support the integration of National Assessment for Student Achievement (NASA), Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), NFE-MIS, SLC data and DRR into EMIS to establish a comprehensive data set for the school education sector and reflection in Flash

121



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7reporting

10.2 Strengthening EMIS for increased transparency and accountability10.2.1 Strengthened EMIS and other databases (e.g. Teacher Information System and Scholarship Management System) for information on key performance indicators including MECs, availability of subject teachers, scholarships, school infrastructure status, student learning outcomes 10.2.2 Linkage of learning data into EMIC (e.g. SLC database, EGRA results etc.)10.2.3 Make EMIS web-based and school-based allowing for tracking progress of individual schools 10.2.4 Enhance transparency by making databases available in the public domain

10.3 Strengthened quality and use of educational data at district, sub district and local level10.3.1 Develop automated production of regional, district, school profile cards using IEMIS data and to prepare tools to support analysis of district and school profile cards to inform RCs, DEOs and SIPs10.3.2 Categorize and compare districts and schools based on equity indexes at district and

122



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7sub-district levels to inform school grant formulas10.3.3 Pilot and introduce new technologies for data collection and feedback, including for monitoring time-on-task and assessing physical maintenance priorities10.3.4 out-of-school children data in EMIS to be verified and validated at school level10.3.5 Collect information and standardize public reporting on languages of students, languages taught in schools and caste/ethnic groups10.3.6 Develop the Equity Index as an integrated part of EMIS

10.4 Assessment for education10.4.1 Development of grade and level specific learning competency assessment framework10.4.2 NASA developing item banks to analyse National Assessment of Student Achievements (NASA) outcomes

11. Examination and Accreditation11.1 Strengthen classroom based assessments for education11.1.1 Conduct classroom based EGRAs in a phased manner

Community schools where standardized classroom-based early grade reading assessments for Grades 2 &3 are conducted by

GPE ESPIG 3,000

123



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7teachers, observed by parent representatives, and results are shared and discussed with parents

Number of schools piloting school-based assessment training

Percentage of head teachers and teachers who have received school-based assessment training

11.1.2 Simplify CAS to focus on improving student learning instead of record keeping11.1.3 Reform school based periodic tests and examinations with use of standardized test items that measure all cognitive domains as well as skills and attitudes11.1.4 Reform district level examination in Grade 8 with focus on standardization across districts and use of items to measure all cognitive domains as well as skills and attitudes

11.2 Assessment and examination reform11.2.1 Development and implementation of National Qualification Framework

1

11.2.2 Implementation of single subject certification policy for SLC (Grade 10) and higher secondary (Grades 11-12) exams

124



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 711.2.3 Development and implementation of standardized examinations for grades 10 and 1211.2.4 Establishing minimum standards for achievement in key areas of each subject11.2.5 Assessment framework developed for grade 8, 10 and 12 that supports the desired learning including higher order, application based learning11.2.6 Improve the quality of term tests and annual examinations by using standardized test items11.2.7 Comprehensive reform of SLC and HSE exams (including standardized high quality test items)11.2.8 Implementing NASA in Grade 3,5,8 and 1011.2.9 Number of recommendations implemented based on NASA findings11.2.10 Core and non-core and single subject certification for SLC and HSE11.2.11 Establishment of National Examination Board

12. Financing12.1 SSDP financing

125



Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 712.1.1 Central government allocation

Education budget as % of the GDP

Education budget as % of national budget

12.1.2 Local government allocation12.1.3 External support (SWAp)12.1.4 External support (non-SWAp)

12.2 Allocation within the education budget12.2.1 Sufficient resources to implement school sector education programmes

Public expenditure on school sector as % of total public expenditure on education

Development share of SSDP as % of total SSDP budget

% of education budget to ECED

% of education budget to basic education

% of education budget to secondary education

% of education budget to TEVT

% of education budget to NFE/LLL

12.2.2 Development and utilization of the Equity Index

Extent to which formula based policies reallocate education resources based on disparities in education outcomes

ESPIG/ SDG

12.3 Financial Management12.3.1 Number and % of unsettled audit

observations resolved

Percentage execution of both non-development and development budget

126

Annex 3: Growth Scenarios for Nepal’s Education Sector

127


Annex 4: Sub sector/ thematic breakdown of SSDP budget cost

SSDP Budget Estimate for PPC/ECED (in USD million)

Cost Categories Activities 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23Total –

7 yrsSalary and Remuneration PPC/ECED facilitators

62.79

69.15

76.48

84.49

92.91

101.80 111.52

599.14

Program Costs Review and Development of Policy, Guidelines, Manuals etc.

0.03

-

-

-

-

- -

0.03

Development, Production and Distribution of textbooks, learning materials

3.66

4.02

4.42

4.87

5.35

5.88 6.45

34.64

Other miscellaneous program costs

0.18

0.20

0.20

0.21

0.23

0.25 0.28

1.55

Management and Administration Cost

Meetings, Networking and Coordination

0.08

0.08

0.09

0.10

0.11

0.12 0.13

0.72

Total 66.

73 73.

45 81.

19 89.

67 98.

60 108.06 118.

39 636

.08

128


SSDP Budget Estimate for Basic Education (in USD million)

Cost Categories Activities 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23Total - 7

yrs

Salary and Remuneration

Lower Basic 308.5

5 339.4

1 373.3

5 410.6

9 451.7

6 496.93 546.6

2 2,927.

31

Upper Basic 114.1

2 125.5

3 138.0

9 151.8

9 167.0

8 183.79 202.1

7 1,082.

68

Program Costs

Review and Development of Policy, Guidelines, Manuals etc.

0.08

-

-

-

- -

-

0.08


23.10

25.51

27.93

30.73

33.80 37.18

40.90

219.15

Training and Capacity Development

0.03

0.03

0.04

0.04

0.05 -

-

0.19

Scholarships 21.

99 24.

49 27.

23 30.

13 33.

49 37.05 42.

95 217

.34 Incentives and Support

15.10

16.83

18.75

20.90

23.28 25.93

28.88

149.66

ICT 0.

18 0.

07 0.

19 0.

28 0.

38 0.25 0.

28 1

.63 Construction - Classrooms, WASH, Toilet, Post-Earthquake reconstruction

243.33

267.70

294.71

80.83

72.78 80.06

88.06

1,127.47

Other program costs

26.18

37.08

40.79

44.96

49.36 54.30

26.33

279.01


Operation Cost 5.

37 5.

91 6.

50 7.

15 7.

86 8.65 9.

51 50

.93 Other miscellaneous program costs

1.60

1.76

1.93

2.12

2.34 2.57

2.83

15.14


0.02

0.02

0.03

0.03

0.03 0.03

0.04

0.20

Total 759.

65 844.

33 929.

53 779.

75 842.

21 926.75 988.

57 6,070

.80

129


SSDP Budget Estimate for Secondary Education (in USD million)

Cost Categories Activities 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23Total - 7 yrs


Higher Secondary 111.7

9 122.9

7 135.2

7 148.7

9 163.6

7 180.04 198.0

4 1,060.

57

Secondary 107.1

2 123.2

6 137.1

7 157.6

3 173.6

4 191.33 210.4

6 1,100.

61

Program Costs

Review and Development of Policy Guidelines

0.03

-

-

-

- -

-

0.03


25.45

28.07

29.79

32.76

25.40 28.06

30.99

200.52

Scholarships 14.

18 15.

66 17.

28 19.

01 20.

91 23.00 25.

31 135

.36 Incentives and Support

6.92

12.08

16.71

22.15

7.80 8.58

9.44

83.68

ICT 3.

80 8.

15 13.

40 19.

62 0.

11 0.12 0.

14 45

.35 Construction - Classrooms, WASH, Toilet, Post-Earthquake reconstruction

12.84

28.26

46.78

68.88

0.92 1.21

-

158.89

Equipment and Other Fixtures

0.37

29.33

36.59

47.55

52.30 -

-

166.15

Comprehensive Schools

0.26

0.58

1.58

3.49

3.83 5.06

-

14.80

Inclusive Education

- 0.

06 0.

13 0.

14 0.

15 0.08

- 0

.56

Monitoring

-

-

- 0.

14

- -

- 0


0.94

1.02

0.82

1.23

1.36 1.49

1.64

8.50


Administrative Staff

4.61

5.07

5.58

6.14

6.75 7.42

8.17

43.73

Non Teaching Staff 25.

21 27.

73 30.

51 33.

56 36.

91 40.60 44.

66 239

.18

Operation Cost 3.

17 3.

72 4.

60 5.

62 6.

79 7.81 8.

59 40

.29

Program/School Operation Cost

0.02

-

-

-

- -

-

0.02

Total 316.

72 405.

96 476.

20 566.

71 500.

56 494.82 537.

43 3,298

.39

130


SSDP Budget Estimate for Technical Education (in USD million)

Cost Categories Activities 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23

Total7 yrs


Secondary technical

3.94

5.72

7.83

12.20

17.37 23.45 25.

80 96

.32

Program Costs


-

0.01

-

-

- -

- 0

.01


-

-

15.21

-

- -

- 15

.21

Management and Administration Cost Operation Cost

4.09

6.72

10.64

16.31

21.40 26.07 30.

07 115

.30

Total

8.

03

12.

46

33.

68

28.

52

38.

77 49.52

55.8

6 226.84

131


SSDP Budget Estimate for Lifelong Learning and Non-formal Education (in USD million)


Total - 7 yrs


Non-Formal facilitators

1.21

1.65

2.12

2.34

2.57 2.83 3.

11 15

.84

Program Costs


0.06

0.07

0.12

0.13

0.14 0.16 0.

17 0

.85


0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01 0.01 0.

01 0

.08

ICT

- 0.

05 0.

05

-

- - -

0.10


0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01 0.01 0.

01 0

.05


0.42

0.47

0.52

0.56

0.61 0.67 0.

74 4

.00


Operation Cost 0.

18 0.

20 0.

22 0.

24 0.

27 0.29 0.32

1.73

Program/School Operation Cost

28.79

31.90

35.09

38.60

42.46 46.70 51.

38 274

.92

Total 30.

67 34.

36 38.

14 41.

89 46.

07 50.68 55.75

297.57

132


SSDP Budget Estimate for Teacher Management and Development (in USD million)


Program Costs


4.93

8.29

9.43

9.76

6.28 1.40

1.60

41.69

ICT 0.

04 0.

08 0.

07 0.

08 0.

06 0.06 0.

06 0


0.29

0.32

0.36

0.38

0.41 0.46

0.50

2.72

Management and Administration Cost Pension

88.41

98.21

109.09

121.17

134.57 149.43

165.93

866.81

Total 0 93.

67 106.

91 118.

95 131.

39 141.

32 151.34 168.

09 911

.67

133


SSDP Budget Estimate for Governance and Management (in USD million)


Total - 7 yrs

Salary and Remuneration Staffs

0.45

0.50

0.55

0.60

0.66 0.73

0.80

4.29

Program Costs


0.03

0.02

-

-

- -

-

0.04


1.35

1.49

1.63

1.80

1.98 2.18

2.39

12.82

Incentives and Support

0.11

0.12

0.13

0.14

0.16 0.17

0.19

1.02


0.31

0.34

0.37

0.41

0.45 0.49

0.54

2.91

Construction - Classrooms, WASH, Toilet, Post-Earthquake reconstruction

0.51

0.56

0.62

0.68

0.75 0.82

0.90

4.83

Monitoring 3.

07 3.

38 3.

72 4.

09 4.

50 4.95 5.

44 29


0.96

0.96

1.06

1.16

1.28 1.40

1.54

8.36



8.26

9.09

10.00

11.00

12.10 13.31

14.64

78.38

Others 1.

16 1.

27 1.

40 1.

54 1.

69 1.86 2.

05 10

.96 Program Management

0.01

0.01

0.02

0.02

0.02 0.02

0.02

0.12

Total 0 16.

22 17.

73 19.

48 21.

43 23.

57 25.93 28.

52 152

.89

134


SSDP Budget Estimate for Capacity Development (in USD million)

Subcomponents Activities 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23

Total - 7 yrs

Program Costs


0.25

0.28

0.30

0.33

0.37 0.40

0.45

2.39

Incentives and Support

0.13

0.14

0.15

0.17

0.18 0.20

0.22

1.19

ICT 1.

66 1.

83 2.

01 2.

21 2.

43 2.68 2.

94 15.77

Construction - Classrooms, WASH, Toilet, Post-Earthquake reconstruction

0.74

0.82

0.90

0.99

1.09 1.20

1.32

7.06


1.32

1.46

1.60

1.76

1.94 2.13

2.34

12.55

Monitoring 0.

04 0.

05 0.

05 0.

06 0.

06 0.07 0.

07 0.40


2.80

3.08

3.39

3.73

4.10 4.51

4.97

26.59

Total 6.

95 7.

65 8.

41 9.

25 10.

18 11.19 12.

31 65.95

135


SSDP Budget Estimate for Monitoring and Evaluation (in USD million)


Salary and Remuneration Monitoring

3.50

3.85

4.23

4.66

5.12 5.64

6.20

33.20

Program Costs Monitoring 1.

14 1.

38 1.

53 1.

67 1.

82 2.00 2.

20 11

.74

Total 4.

64 5.

23 5.

76 6.

33 6.

94 7.64 8.

40 44

.94

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SSDP Budget Estimate for Central Organizational Management (in USD million)

Subcomponents Activities 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23Total - 7 yrs


Overall Management

45.55

50.11

55.12

60.63

66.69 73.36

80.70

432.15

Total 45.

55 50.

11 55.

12 60.

63 66.

69 73.36 80.

70 432

.15

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Annex 5: School Education Sector Institutions in Nepal

Basic education schools: Basic education schools cover Grades 1 to 8 as defined by the Education Act. All government schools do not have all these grades as some only cover Grades 1–3 and 1–5.

Community learning centres: These centres are the community owned centres that are registered with district administration offices. They are established through the initiative of the Ministry of Education although their mandate goes beyond that of the education ministry. They can conduct a variety of activities mainly for lifelong learning and non-formal education under MoE.

Community schools: Community schools are Nepalese schools that have been established on the request of local communities with their establishment and operations partly funded in kind and in cash by local communities. Such contributions mostly come from individual and community donations including from trusts and local bodies. This does not include tuition fees. These schools still mainly rely on central government grants for their operation.

Comprehensive schools: Comprehensive schools are large secondary model schools that cater to scattered populations of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Comprehensive These schools serve a minimum of 500, 700 and 1000 students in the mountain, hill and Terai regions respectively. In addition to all the features of model schools (see above), these comprehensive schools have residential facilities mainly for secondary level students from disadvantaged scattered communities. They also provide scholarships for these students. Comprehensive schools have a separate legal basis ensuring more management autonomy.

ECED (community-based): Early childhood education and development (ECED) centres deliver pre-primary education and early childhood development services. Community run ECED centres are DEO-approved and are supported for the costs of facilitators and educational materials.

ECED (school-based): Schools can also establish ECED centres and now it has been mandated for all the schools to have school based ECED centres, and they get all the support that is arranged for community based ones.

Education training centres: ETCs are sub-regional centres for teacher training and the development of other school human resources. They come under the National Centre for Educational Development (NCED).

Inclusive schools: In inclusive schools, children with disabilities are enrolled in regular classes and peer-exchange between students is encouraged by teachers. Additional educational resources are provided to support the learning of children with disabilities.

Integrated schools: These are schoolswith resource teachers that apply different levels of inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream classes. These schools are the bridge between resource schools, where the needs of children with disabilities are catered for in separate learning environments (resource classes) and inclusive schools where children with disabilities are mainstreamed in general education.

Institutional schools: These schools are owned and operated by the private sector under the Companies Act and are profit oriented entities. They are regulated by the Ministry of Education.

Mobile schools: Mobile schools are operated for migratory communities of Himalayan districts where extreme climatic conditions do not permit people to live in the same place throughout the year.

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Model schools: Model schools are well resourced and performing schools that provide technical support in terms of professional development and administrative needs to nearby schools. Schools that are supported to become model schools will be selected on the basis of (a) geographical and demographical spread, (b) size of school-going population in catchment areas, (c) electricity and internet accessibility, and (d) educational achievements of the school.

Model schools have to have the following infrastructure:

the minimum number of classrooms to maintain the student-teacher ratio within government norms;

toilets connected to water and with sanitation facilities, with separate toilets for girls;

a library and a science laboratory; and

have been built or retrofitted in line with approved disaster risk reduction norms.

Model schools also have to have the following teaching and learning resources:

sufficient subject-wise teachers (English, maths, science) in line with student-teacher ratio norms;

separate head teacher positions;

digital teaching-learning resources, including a digital library and internet access; and

science and math resources (kits) for Grades 6–8.

Resource centres: Resource centres provide technical backstopping to clusters of schools and report to DEOs.

Resource classes and schools: Some selected schools run resource classes for students with disabilities, but not necessarily in the same classes for students without disabilities.

Secondary education schools: Secondary schools provide education from Grades 1 to 8, with the possibility of inclusion of pre-basic education (ECED) and higher secondary (Grades 11 and 12) classes. There are four types of secondary schools:

Community secondary schools will be changed to model schools once they achieve certain minimum facilities and criteria. They will be encouraged and supported to achieve this.

Once model schools expand their facilities and meet advanced criteria, they will be converted to comprehensive schools,

Comprehensive schoolswill be encouraged and supported to expand their level of service delivery.

Special schools: Special schools have residential facilities for students with disabilities and provide education that is otherwise would difficult to provide by distributing scare resources to many locations.

Traditional schools: Traditional schools are the traditional and religious schools run by religious institutions. These schools are gradually being mainstreamed into the national education system with Government support. They include gurukuls, gumbas and madarshas.

Detailed costing is not available and many key results are in need of further concretization and corresponding indicators. The next version of the draft can elaborate on the following areas: (A) implementation arrangements including management

structure, roles and responsibilities from schools/communities to districts and the center level agencies and support/partner agencies; (B) PFM arrangements including procurement, financial management, funds flow, financial reporting, disbursement arrangements, budget heads, PFM action plans, and external financing management ; (C) Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting including arrangements for results-based financing and Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs); (D) Financing/Costing

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details; (E) Details on Technical Assistance including TA administration and financing; (F) Safeguards details including environmental and social management frameworks and monitoring arrangements; and (G) risk management details including governance and accountability action plan.

Program management and monitoring need to be given due importance for a strategic program of importance that SSDP is. It may also be useful to check what all of the suggested strategies and actions would require in terms of inputs (work) for e.g.

CDC, NCED, DoE and MoE. How many new policies, curricula, guidelines etcetera need to be developed? This would be help to assess how much new capacity is needed to carry out the plan at different levels.

The new constitution envisions greater role of individual states in the provision and management of the schools. At least the Program should leave some room or flexibility to operationalize the new Acts and Regulations as per the new constitution. The strategy and timeline for change and the challenges to the new federal arrangement with provinces and local authorities are not clearly outlined for (a) quality and assessment aspects (b) educational management (c) teacher management and development (d) financing etc. Considering the major impact of the transformation of the country into federal system, it would be important to describe and analyze more in-depth (in chapter 1) the changes in governance and its repercussions on education.

A risk analysis regarding governance transformation is needed: for example, with regard to the likelihood of the Education Act being amended, the roll out of the federal structure and if it takes long to establish and get functional the provincial and local governments what are the results that will suffer (those to be funded by local governments like scholarships etc.) and what would be alternative (plan B) ways of operating if the risk materializes. Education will probably be the pioneer to test the decentralization policy.

The SSDP should include a risk assessment of this shared venture and responsibility of financing education in Nepal and eventual responses to such risks. The SSRP did have a short passage on risk & mitigation measures, however this needs to be further developed and documented in the SSDP. There will always be risks involved when there is partners working together that not always see eye-to-eye on issues.

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Ssdp final draft --april 4, 2016

Education

Transcript of Ssdp final draft --april 4, 2016