Government of Nepal
Ministry of Education
20 October 2015
Ministry of Education (2015). School Sector Development Plan (SSDP) 2016-2022: Concept Paper. Kathmandu, Government of Nepal, Ministry of Education.
ASIPannual strategic implementation plan
AWPBannual work plan and budget
CASContinuous Assessment System
CDCCurriculum Development Centre
DRRdisaster risk reduction
ECEDearly childhood education development
EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment
EROEducation Review Office
ESPEducation Sector Plan
GESIgender equality and social inclusion
ICTinformation and communication technology
LDCleast developed country
MEC minimum enabling conditions
MGMLmulti grade-multi level
MoEMinistry of Education
NASANational Assessment for Student Achievements
NQFNational Qualification Framework
NVQFNational Vocational Qualifications Framework
PPEpre-primary education
RCresource person
RP resource centre
SIP School Improvement Plan
SMCschool managements committee
SSDPSchool Sector Development Plan
SSRPSchool Sector Reform Plan
TSCTeacher Service Commission
TWGtechnical working group
Nepal is at a crossroads in terms of the departure into the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era at a global level and the rollout of the federal system as established under the recently promulgated constitution at the national level. The School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP) is the current Education Sector Plan, which was initiated in 2009 and is due to end in July 2016. As such, the government has started developing the new School Sector Development Plan (SSDP), which is envisioned to run from July 2016 to 2022 in line with Nepal’s vision to graduate from the status of a least developed country (LDC). The SSDP will thereby be a continuation of the government’s efforts to ensure access to quality education for all through programmes such asEducation for All (EFA), the Secondary Education Support Programme (SESP), the Community School Support Programme (CSSP), the Teacher Education Project (TEP) and the SSRP. Building upon the lessons learned and the gains made in the sector under these programmes, the SSDP is envisioned to achieve the unfinished agenda and accomplish the goals defined under the recently agreed global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
To produce a needs-based plan, the Ministry of Education (MoE) is taking an inclusive and participatory approach and is carrying out a sector analysis. As part of this approach, thematic working groups have developed background papers and simultaneous reflections on research findings and expert opinions have been compiled based on which this SSDP concept note was developed. This note provides a blueprint of the SSDP’s scope, range and major strategic directions and will be brought into wider consultation by engaging experts, professionals andstakeholders at the national, regional, district, community and school levels. Based on this, the MoE will prepare an SSDP Approach Paper, which will be developed into the SSDP document. Unlike the SSRP, the SSDP document will encompass the broader policy framework as well as the plan. Building on the achievements under the SSRP and previous education sector plans, the SSDP requires a shift in emphasis from access to quality, equitable 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 reforms to the policy and regulatory frameworks. The Constitution guarantees the fundamental right to education and lays down the Directive Principles of the State on education, State’s agenda in three levels and concurring rights. This SSDP concept note therefore highlights the broad policy directions as the intended way forward in line with the new constitution.
The School Sector Development Programme (SSDP) will be designed in line with the commitment expressed by Nepal to the Incheon Declaration of the World Education Forum, and the international commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have been ratified by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. As such, the planning of the SSDP will be aligned with the defining of indicators and contextualization of the SDGs.
Educational services have been severely disrupted by the earthquakes and multiple aftershocksthat struck a large part of the country in April and May 2015. Over 8,000 schools were destroyed or incurred major damage, leaving nearly one million children unable to continue their education. This is likely to have affected the enrolment, attendance and internal efficiency, leading to an increase in the number of out-of-school children. There will also have been a likely increase in the number of children with disabilities or significant injuries for whom education has become less accessible. With the demand for additional labour both at home and in the market, it is reasonable to assume that some children, particularly in the higher grades, might be less regular or drop out eventually, and there might also be a decrease in their motivation and enabling environment to complete education. It is, therefore, expected that the affected areas might experience a decline in the children’s learning outcomes in the short to medium term. The SSDP will therefore prioritizereconstruction and recovery works as identified during the Government’s Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and in line with the Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction that was adopted at the 2015 UN world Conference in Sendai.
In short, the School Sector Development Plan is envisioned to address both the reform and developmental needs of the country in the current context. Reform in the education sector is necessitated by the changeover to a federal system of governance. This will require changes in existing rules and regulatory frameworks. Development on the other hand is needed to improve quality, efficiency and service delivery and to reach out to populations who have been marginalised and are difficult to reach. This will require revisiting development programmes and building the capacity of delivery units. Thus, in broad terms, the SSDP will focus to reform and develop the education sector in line with the new constitutional mandate.
At a time when notable achievements have been made in securing access to education, it is now necessary to focus on quality and efficiency of the system by addressing challenges related to thequality of education and the achievement of learning competencies, without leaving those that have not yet been able to access education behind. As such, the following major challenges have been identified:
Equity
1. Nepal is highly diverse in terms of language and culture that has created diverse learning need of children. Meeting everyone’s learning needs therefore poses challenges not only in terms of access but also its appropriateness.
2. The access of children from the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities/groupsand 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.
3. To ensure access to quality education for those children affected by natural disasters and living in disaster prone areas.
Quality
4. Learning outcomes, retention and completion of basic and secondary education cycles remain low, indicating that the quality and relevance of education is a major concern.
5. All schools are yet to be made disaster resilient for providing safe spaces for children and disaster resilience is not yet fully mainstreamed within education teaching/learning.
6. Many students do not have access to the minimum prescribed teaching-learning days and teachers have in many cases not been able to meet the required time-on-task.
7. The school dropout and repetition rates are still significant, especially in the early grades, as a direct result of low early grade reading and writing skills.
8. Teacher management, especially their distribution across the education system, is yet to be rationalised.
9. Teachers’ requirements are defined by certification and training rather than competencies.
10. The limited opportunities in technical and vocational education and the limited linksbetween general education and technical-vocational education.
Efficiency
11. The envisioned reforms in the institutional structure of the education system are yet to be accomplished.
12. School managements and school management committees (SMCs) are yet to institutionalize their role in need based planning and quality assurance of education at school level.
13. Result based monitoring and evaluation of progress for education rather than of education is yet to become institutionalized and embedded in planning processes.
14. Government rules and regulations in schools is yet to be enforced effectively.
A strong foundation has been laid for Nepal’s system of school-based education, which providesopportunities for determining and implementing new plans and programmes. These opportunities are as follows:
1. The new constitution of Nepal has reaffirmed education as a fundamental right. It states that “Every citizen shall have the right to compulsory and free basic education, and free education up to the secondary level.”
2. School-level education is receiving 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.
3. To ensure that schools are (re)constructed in line with the approved guidelines and technical specifications to provide a disaster risk reduced and safe learning environment.
4. Increased access to computers and the internet across Nepal is enhancing the possibility of scaling-up the use of information technology (IT) in school education.
5. Nepal has articulated its commitment to the Universal Declaration on Education by 2030. As such, it is expected to foster international cooperation and collaboration for educational development in the country.
6. The professional knowledge of teachers is increasing. The recently deployed cohorts of teachers have started to enter the profession through a competitive process, which is a practice likely to continue.
7. 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.
8. Public investment in education is increasing and private sector involvement is increasingdramatically. Parents are becoming more and more eager to invest in their children’s education. The activities of NGOs and the civil society organizations are also increasing in this sector.
9. The interest and commitment of all sectors in skill-oriented education is increasing.Similarly the desire for lifelong education is increasing among adults.
1. Based on the lessons learned from the implementation of SSRP, the SSDP is being developed to create an enabling environment for implementation and to bring about the changes needed for the government to meet its 2022 vision to graduate from LDC status.
2. The SSDP is being developed based on a theory of change that puts ‘needs’, ‘ownership’ and ‘implementability’ at the core of its design:
o The needs are to develop policies and strategies that are needs-based to ensure a strong equity, quality and efficiency focus of the plan;
o Ownership is about ensuring commitment and willingness among the leaders and implementers of the plan as well as ensuring endorsement and consensus (if not agreement) among key stakeholders and groups of influencers to prevent implementation being challenged or disrupted; and
o Implementability is about the envisioned policies, strategies and activities being compatible with the context and ground realitiesof the country.
1. To ensure the plan’s relevance in terms of it responding to the needs of direct and indirect beneficiaries, information on needs and mechanisms is required so that it can be compiled and analysed and presented at the right times and on the right platforms in the regular planning and implementation cycle. As such, the quality of and access to such data will determine the quality and relevance of the interventions that are informed by this data.
2. The first step in ensuring that the necessary information is available is to establish a strong baseline by undertaking a sector analysis that will:
o take stock of lessons learned from implementing SSRP to inform the development of the SSDP; and
o inform and monitor national education sector plans through evidence-based analytical work.
The situational analysis will be carried out in will be carried out in 2015 This analysis will include a socioeconomic and political context analysis and a macro-economic and public finance analysis) and an impact analysis (including a social and economic impact analysis and analysis of sub-sectors and themes). This analysis will be a key determent of the success of the SSDP as the design will be based on the analysed context, which includes several major features that have never been part of it, such as the federal structure and the post-disaster context.
3. The second part of the needs component is to ensure ongoing stakeholder consultations and validations at all levels to capture and validate needs that have been identified through the lessons learned from implementing the SSRP and from the sector analysis. These consultations will continue to be undertaken with a purposeful focus on who is being consulted and for what.
4. The third part of the needs component is the institutionalisation of mechanisms within the education sector that ensure the quality and use of data. Nepal’s Education Management Information System (EMIS) offers a solid foundation in terms of the scope and reach of collected data, which is why the emphasis here will most likely be on the sharing and use of this data to (i) inform planning and ensure a needs based approach and (ii) to further strengthen the quality of data through stakeholder validation. The development of an Equity Index as part of the Consolidated Equity Strategy for the School Education Sector will be a key tool to allow the government to plan for educational provision based on disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes. This is all the more relevant given the need to balance the provision of post-disaster needs with overcoming the historic disparities and vulnerabilities.
5. Finally, there is the need to adopt a result based approach within the planning and implementation of the SSDP to ensure the targeting and prioritisation of the allocation of resources on an equitable basis focused towards strengthening quality and efficiency.
1. The second component of the change model through which the SSDP is envisioned to be developed and implemented is ownership of the plan by (i) leadership and management, and (ii) duty bearers and implementers. In addition it includes ownership in terms of agreement or endorsement, or at the least acceptance of the plan by (i) beneficiaries, (ii) key stakeholders (such as political leaders, academics, media, international agencies, etc.). Teachers are in this regard a key group in terms of ownership as they are both part of the implementers in terms of the SSDP being translated into teaching-learning activities in the classroom and as key stakeholders in terms of the influence and power they can produce on the system through their professional organisations.
2. During the development of the SSDP, the inclusion of these groups through consultations will be done on an ongoing base and in that the strategy to have the SSDP Thematic Working Groups and the drafting of the background papers, concept note, approach paper and the SSDP document done simultaneously in Nepali and English to allow for these groups to partake in broad and critical discussion. In addition, these groups will be involved in the design and mandated with the undertaking of consultations within relevant thematic areas in order to not just consult with them but allow them to consult on behalf of the SSDP development process.
3. The ownership of the implementation of the SSDP is envisioned to be ensured through the development of an SSDP communication strategy that is tailored on the identified stakeholders and groups of influence within the country and their priorities and attitude towards the SSDP priorities and strategies. Part of this strategy will for example be a media strategy.
4. This concept note covers the main policy statements and strategic actions from the thematic background papers that were produced by technical working groups (TWGs). Much of the detailed content of these background papers will be used while elaborating the detailed policy statements and strategic actions of the core SSDP document.
5. This concept note provides a broad way forward to enrich the SSDP development process by engaging primary stakeholders to deliberate on its content. The next step is to bring primary stakeholders such as the teachers’ unions, student groups, civil society organisations and development partners to discourse on the policy directions and the waysforward presented in this concept note. The whole consultation will yield to the next level of documentation — the Approach Paper which will mimic a zero draft of the SSDP.
1. The key for implementability is ensuring that the plan matches reality through broad and in depth consultations with duty bearers and as such to balance ambitions with context and available capacity to ensure a relevant composition of reform and reoccurring activities under SSDP. Recognising the state of transition that Nepal is currently going through and the changes in terms of structural and implementation modalities that are expected and envisioned in the coming years and under the new federal system of government, a strong checks and balances mechanism will be incorporated within the SSDP to allow for continuous analysis, research, validation and review of government and education stakeholders at all levels. Sufficient capacity for coordination and review will be ensured at the central policy and planning level as part of this checks and balances mechanism.
2. An implementation plan will be developed as a part of the SSDP, identifying and outlining implementation arrangements and capacity development needs against the developed strategies and activities with a special focus on unleashing teacher competencies through mentor and support structures to ensure the envisioned quality focus within classrooms.
This chapter explains the proposed vision, objectives, policy directions and broad strategies of the School Sector Development Plan.
The vision for Nepal’s school education is preparing citizens to protect and promote democracy and human rights, to be committed towards continuous education, to have a positive perception of labour, to be oriented towards self-employment, to have the agency and ability to be active citizens of their communities and the country, and to actively contribute to solving the emerging challenges faced by people, society and the nation in the twenty-first century.
The following objectives need to be met to achieve the vision:
Equity
1. 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 in these areas within targeted groups.
Quality
2. To enhance the relevance and quality of education.
3. To develop a disaster resilience system.
Efficiency
4. 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.
5. To develop a sustainable financing system by introducing a cost-sharing modality between central, provincial, and local governments.
Relevance
6. To accommodate the political and administrative restructuring of the education sector in line with the identified needs and federal context.
7. To facilitate the realization of Nepali’s aspirations within the global and national context
1. Reform existing rules and regulations to align school governance and management with the new constitutional mandate.
2. Prioritise improving relevance, quality and equity in basic education.
3. Ensure access to quality secondary education.
4. Focus on value-based skills-oriented occupational and vocational education.
5. Better link education with livelihood and occupation needs.
6. Build safe and secure schools.
1. Review and assessment of existing rules and regulations to align it with the Constitutional mandates.
2. Focus on improving quality in basic education.
3. Introduce programs to improve access to secondary education.
4. Introduce a separate stream of technical and vocational education in secondary schools.
5. Improve the relevance and value of education for peoples’ livelihoods and agency.
6. Mainstream and enforce disaster risk reduction (DRR) to create safe and secure space conducive for teaching and learning.
The following are the outline objectives, policy directions and strategies for the SSDP’s sub-sectors and cross cutting themes.
a)Objectives
• Fostering early childhood development.
• Ensuring children’s school readiness at an appropriate age upon entering Grade 1.
b) Policy directions
• Ensure school readiness through access to one year pre-primary education/early childhood education development (PPE/ECED) programmes for all four year old children.
• Provide extended early childhood education development programmes on demand.
• Prioritise extending PPE/ECED services to marginalised communities and geographically remote areas.
• Meet basic quality standards of PPE/ECED programmes and their delivery.
• Ensure minimum standards through governance and management of PPE/ECED programmes by local governments.
c)Strategies
Equity
• Empower local governments to run PPE/ECED programmes by developing norms, guidelines and incentives to operate such programmes in partnership to support early childhood education development on demand.
• Implement different models of PPE/ECED such as in-school, community-based, residential, home-based programmes on demand.
• Based on the norms and guidelines provided, local governments will engage communities, families and parents group, as well as the private sector and other public sectors to expand the one-year pre-primary education programme to reach all four-year-olds.
• Introduce special provisions for areas and communities with high disparity in term of school readiness to ensure equitable expansion of access.
Quality
• Promote partnerships between central and local governments to meet basic norms and standards of physical and educational environments in all PPE/ECED centres.
• Strengthen the governance and management of PPE/ECED centres by developing norms and guidelines to support local governments.
• Ensure relevance and alignment with Early Learning Development Standards (ELDS) in materials used in PPE/ECED programmes.
• Build the capacity of PPE/ECED facilitators by introducing one month’s intensive training as mandatory for all facilitators.
• Introduce a one year educational programme targeting graduates of basic education (grade ten) to prepare them as potential PPE/ECED facilitators.
Efficiency
• Establish mutual agreed functional and effective links between community-based PPE/ECED centres and community schools in their vicinity.
• Strengthen the roles of local governments to supervise and monitor PPE/ECED with a focus on follow-up support.
• Strengthen coordination between Central level ministries for integrated interventions across health, nutrition, education and protection, and taking more holistic approach to drive results for children.
Relevance
• Explore the use of traditional and local knowledge transfer practices particularly forimparting skills.
a)Objectives
• To ensure student readiness for secondary education with required learning competencies.
• To promote life skills and value based education.
• Early orientation on the national economy and harmony in socio-cultural diversity.
b)Policy directions
• Free and compulsory basic education is a primary responsibility of the state.
• Priority to achieve equity in basic education with reference to gender, disability, poverty, marginalised communities and remote locations.
• Quality in physical, educational and pedagogical processes using a trilingual medium of instruction.
• Accreditation of formal, non-formal and informal learning so as to ease vertical and horizontal access to education.
• The introduction of soft skills value based education programmes linking with economic, social and cultural diversity.
• Enhancing the reading culture among students and teachers.
c)Strategies
Equity
• Provide a school sub-structure with grades 1–3, 1–5 and 1–8 to cater to students to the learning needs of different age groups.
• Ensure free and compulsory education for all, such as in gumbas (Buddhist monasteries), gurukul (Vedic schools), madarasha (Muslim educational institutions) and other modes of education including alternative and open education.
• Provide open, alternative, residential, and special needs education to cater to different learning needs of students including those who are at risk, disabled and vulnerable.
• Strengthen the mobile education system as per need in remote locations.
Quality
• Ensure inclusive minimum standards for basic education learning environments to mainstream children with disabilities where possible.
• Ensure minimum enabling conditions for learning in all public and institutional schools by enacting appropriate regulations and mechanisms to support schools financially as well as technically.
• Build capacity and strengthen Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) functions to formulate the National Qualification Framework for accrediting formal and alternative modes of learning including non-formal and informal learning.
• Develop technology-based curricular materials to enhance learning ability and learning skills.
• Adjust curricular to encompass life-skills, soft-skills and value based education.
• Enforce a trilingual medium of instruction that includes the mother tongue, national and international language.
• The CDC to formulate standards for grade and level-specific learning competencies based on National Assessment of Student Achievements (NASA) and Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) results.
• Digitise curricular materials and the instructional support system and provide adequate information and communication technology (ICT) facilities in schools.
• Develop a national curriculum framework to determine the content and instructional design for provinces to adapt as per the federal policy.
• Make the training of teachers more effective by strengthening the teacher license system, upgrading qualifications and focusing on teaching competency.
• Maintaining minimum quality and competency, prioritise the recruitment of women teachers and teachers from targeted and marginalised groups.
• Introduce a teacher cadre management system in line with the type of schools such as alternative, multi-grade, conventional and special type.
• Develop research based curricular materials and assessment tools for children with disabilities.
• Strengthen student assessments by effectively implementing Continuous Assessment System CAS and EGRA.
• Provide libraries and reading corners in schools to promote learning to read and reading to learn.
• Develop strategies for implementing a multi grade multi-level (MGML) education programme in specific communities and geographic locations on demand.
Efficiency
• Revisit the roles of current resource centres (RCs) and resource persons (RP) system and introduce resource teachers in each RC on a pilot basis to strengthen monitoring and supervision focusing on teaching and learning support.
• Introduce incentive schemes to increase teaching and learning hours in schools by introducing time on task at all levels and for all delivery points.
a)Objectives
• To make students ready for the world of work by developing skilled human resource.
• Focus on access to education without compromising quality.
• Links to higher education and more work orientation.
• To provide a foundation for higher education
• Prepare students to uphold and fulfil their civic duties.
b)Policy directions
• Free secondary education.
• Priority to equitable access to secondary education.
• Provide two streams of education: general and technical-vocational education. (Educate on soft-skills in both general and technical-vocational education, linkage, career, National Qualification Framework [NQF] including National Vocational Qualifications Framework [NVQF])
• Institute the demand based allocation of resources (schools and teachers).
• Share governance and management responsibility.
c)Strategies
Equity
• Institute legal provisions and the regulatory framework to encourage various models of partnership to implement free secondary education.
• Introduce cash transfers for students with low socioeconomic status to strengthen access and participation of these students in education.
• Provide open and alternative, residential, and special needs 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 populations such as Chepangs, Rautes, Badis, Musahars, Doms, Chamars, Dusadhs, Rajmamas, Kusundas.
Quality
• 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.
• Enforce quality standards by defining sets of minimum enabling conditions (MEC) to be met in public and institutional schools in order to operate secondary schools.
• Form partnerships and shared responsibility to meet the MECs in public schools.
• Teach core skills such as critical thinking, collaboration and ICT in the curricula.
• Institute regulatory provisions and a comprehensive support scheme for schools operating both general and vocational streams of secondary education.
• Provide teacher management and professional development support (discussed in Section 4.5).
Efficiency
• Institute the demand based allocation of large, residential and model schools.
• Introduce and implement regulatory provisions and institutional arrangements to operate a technical-vocational education programme.
• Introduce the demand based distribution of subject-specific schools under the technical-vocational stream.
• Introduce programmes to support outstanding students on a merit basis.
• Carry out annual reviews of school’s operations and management standards through performance audits to ensure accountability.
• Institute an accountability and performance audit system to award and regulate secondary schools.
• Introduce support packages to improve underachieving schools.
• 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.
• 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.
• Review and consolidate technical–vocational curricula in the secondary level curriculum (classes 9 to 12), in collaboration with the private and public sectors.
a)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.
b)Policy directions
• Literacy to all
• Lifelong learning opportunity for populations with diverse learning needs.
• Career based programmes to mitigate gaps between education and occupations.
c)Strategies
Equity
• Scale-up continuous education programme by expanding library and community reading centres.
• Introduce special programmes and packages for targeted groups and areas with a special focus on skills development and income generation.
• Run targeted educational programmes for out-of-school children including those who are over age.
Quality
• Deliver education through different modes on-demand including through formal, alternative and open schools
• Develop and implement career-based programmes focusing on professional development support and work-related skills.
Efficiency
• Empower local governments to design and develop, plan and implement literacy and post-literacy programmes in a coordinated way.
• Launch national volunteer campaigns in collaboration with local governments and primary stakeholders such as organised civil society groups.
• Introduce locally based mechanisms for monitoring and supervisory support.
a)Objectives
• The provision of qualified competent teachers.
• Ensure teaching-learning days and that teachers’ time on task is in line with government directives and guidelines.
• Maintaining high morale and motivation for teaching and learning among teachers and students.
b)Policy directions
• The management of teachers in line with the constitutional mandate.
• Attracting and retaining highly qualified and competent professionals in teaching force.
• A balanced approach to recruiting teachers from under represented populations.
• Regular refresher and capacity building of school teachers
c)Strategies
Teacher Management
• Strengthening 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 school.
• 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 streams.
• Make provision to fill at least 20 percent of secondary level vacant positions with basic level school teachers.
• Introduce and enforce regulatory provisions to maintain teacher-pupils ratio in districts in order to ensure equitable (re)distribution of teachers.
• Introduce standard norms and guidelines to manage temporary teachers or teachers appointed through private sources.
• Review and strengthen eligibility criteria for teacher licensing and participation in teacher service examinations. For example, persons fulfilling basic qualifications and having taken a one-year preparatory course should be eligible to participate in teaching licence examinations.
Teacher Development
• Introduce a career path for the direct promotion of teachers to higher levels in line with the Civil Service Act.
• Run teacher preparation programmes to supply adequate teachers to teach core subjects such as science, mathematics and English.
• Renew teachers’ licenses every five years.
• Introduce programmes to support continuous learning and professional development.
• Introduce an induction year with adequate mentoring and support provisions for new teachers upon entering the teaching service, linked with career development and incentives.
• Felicitate outstanding teachers with letters and certificates.
• Provide demand-based as well as need-based short and medium term training programmes for teachers.
a)Objectives
• The effective delivery of education services.
b)Policy directions
• Gradual transition of school governance and management, in line with the constitutional mandate, to local government.
• The equitable participation and representation of communities in school governance and management.
• More efficient and effective educational services.
c)Strategies
• Review existing rules and regulations to align school governance and management with the constitutional mandate including functions of school managements committees (SMCs), parent teacher associations (PTAs) and RCs.
• Develop a national framework to support local governments to revisit roles and functions including the capacity of school management committees to strengthen school governance and management.
• Introduce performance-based management and investment for ensuring accountability at school level.
• Introduce of 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.
a)Objectives
• Improve the quality and efficiency of service delivery.
b)Policy directions
• Build capacity of the education system for results-oriented service delivery.
c)Strategies
• Restructure and reorient the entire education system in line with the new constitution.
• Introduce programmes for professional development training and qualification upgrading to develop human resources in the education sector.
• Reform regulatory provisions to introduce and strengthen career-based positions and teacher development programmes.
• Develop and introduce ICT based capacity development programmes.
• Use partnerships between government agencies and private businesses to develop the capacity of teachers.
• Run programmes to engage talented graduates with science, maths, and English majors in their bachelor’s programmes to teach these subjects in public schools between university semesters.
• Provide funds for need-based and demand-based capacity development programmes in the annual strategic implementation plans/annual work plan and budgets (ASIPs/AWPBs).
a)Objectives
• To build on pre- and post-disaster lessons learned within the education sector and suggesting policies and strategies to inform the development of the SSDP.
• To identify a minimum package for schools in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and school safety to reach children, teachers, head teachers, SMCs, parents, communities, education authorities and officials at all levels through existing government mechanisms.
• To map the main actors and ongoing or future initiatives that supporting the Ministry and Department of Education’s leadership in ensuring the mainstreaming of DRR and school safety.
• Ensure that all learning facilities – institutional, private, religious and other types of school in Nepal – are disaster resilient and provide a safe learning space for children to receive a quality education. This includes safe site selection, building codes, disaster resilient design, retrofitting, construction supervision and quality control.
• 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, incorporation of school safety into school improvement plans (SIPs), planning for educational continuity, building response and preparedness capacities and reaching out to communities.
• Mainstream risk reduction and resilience into formal and non-formal education through national and local curricula and teachers’ professional development.
• All learning facilities — including institutional, private and religious schools, should be disaster resilient.
• The prototype designs for new school construction must be resilient to multiple hazards and be disability inclusive.
• The certification and technical support provided during construction and/or retrofitting must be done through the authorised government agency.
• Community involvement in safe school facilities need to be clarified and defined to ensure community engagement is maximised for safer and more resilient communities.
• All organisations involved in construction should follow government rules and regulations.
• A time bound action plan is needed for the (re)construction of safe schools with committed resources for all possible costs (assessment, planning, supervision, implementation, consulting, coordination, research and development, awareness and capacity building).
• There should be a standard set of key messages for DRR in schools and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for different types of disasters. These should be approved by the education authorities in coordination with disaster management authorities.
• The key messages for DRR should be incorporated into training packages and disseminated through a range of different mechanisms to reach children, teachers, SMC members and communities.
• A set of standard teaching materials on DRR should be approved by the government for teachers, head teachers and SMCs and be followed by all DRR and school safety actors in Nepal.
• Related teaching and learning materials should use a range of different approaches including audio-visual materials such as videos, DVDs and dramas.
• Head teachers and SMCs should be supported to incorporate risk assessment and school safety planning into the SIPs.
• The terms of reference for SMCs should be reviewed and updated to specify their roles,responsibilities and activities related to DRR.
• DRR activities should link children, parents, family members and communities so they are active and engaged in reducing risks.
• Children and young people should be recognised as agents of change and should be engaged in active learning for DRR. Child clubs, youth groups and other organisations provide potential venues for such activities.
• All school disaster management materials should be accessible for all and incorporate principles of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI).
• Review, update and regularly test the contingency and preparedness plans of the education sector in light of the experiences of the earthquakes of April and May 2015.
• Review the scope and sequence of the curriculum and incorporate learning outcomes for DRR throughout ECCD, primary and secondary grades.
• Based on the revised curricula, update the pre- and in-service teacher training and other relevant training packages to incorporate DRR.
• Ensure 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 thereby minimise human losses during disasters,
• Make all risk reduction and education accessible for all and incorporate GESI principles.
• Integrate DRR into academic, informal (non-formal) and professional curricula progressively from basic awareness to vocational training and advanced knowledge and skill sets.
• Use appropriate provisions, such as local curricula, to roll out risk reduction and resilience education.
• Use non-formal education and appropriate venues for the dissemination of risk reduction and resilience education.
• Develop a communications strategy to promote the use of a range of tools to disseminate DRR information to children, communities and parents.
a)Objectives
• To inform policy making bodies about the status of the education system in general and learning achievements in particular.
• Regular feedback to implementing agencies about the status of programmes and activities
b)Policy directions
• Building on the best practices of NASA.
• Strengthening institutional capacity of Education Review Office (ERO) to independentlyreview and audit the education system including student assessments.
c)Strategies
• Strengthen the results-oriented monitoring and evaluation system and the educational management information system (EMIS).
• Building the capacity of ERO to conduct NASA and EGRA on a regular basis.
• Link the results of NASA, ERO, M&E and EMIS reports with policy-making and planning.
• Design and develop a framework for carrying out periodic evaluations of educational programmes.
• Develop a research-based/oriented monitoring and evaluation system.
• Carry out client satisfaction surveys and formative research.
• Strengthen the use of technology for managing educational data.
a)Objectives
• A credible system of certification of educational qualifications.
• Accreditation and acceptance of certification across the country.
b)Policy directions
• A national examination system to accredit educational qualifications.
• The decentralisation of examinations and certification.
• Introduce and strengthen formative and summative assessment and exam reforms to ensure assessment for education.
c)Strategies
• Establish a National Examination Board
• Hold national examinations at three levels to test basic education completion at the end of grades 8, 10 and 12.
• Schools to issue educational certificates in all other grades
• Adoption of letter grade system in all educational certificates.
• Review and rationalize cohesion of curriculum, textbooks and assessment
a)Objectives
• Generate adequate financial resources for education development.
• Provide adequate resources to support educational policy directions.
• Manage available resources effectively.
b)Policy directions
• The government to bear the cost of school education including one year’s PPE/ECED.
• Cost-sharing between central and provincial/state government.
• Schools as the standard cost unit for government education grants and provisions to ensure minimum standards.
• Enhance the roles of the private and public sector to fund educational programmes.
• External support in education to focus on in major impact areas of investment.
c)Strategies
• Adopt the formula based allocation of resources such as basic/committed grants, incentive grants and special package grants.
• Adopt the results-based resource allocation system.
• Develop an overall investment framework for education to harmonise the roles and responsibilities of federal, provincial and local governments.
• 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.
• 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.
