Hence, until the recent past, Nepal followed the traditional three-tier sixteen-year education system,
allocating ten years to school education, four years to college level studies - two years each for
intermediate and bachelor program, and two to the Masters program at the university.
Education in Nepal from the primary school to the university level has been modeled from the very
on the Indian system, which is in turn the legacy of the old British Raj. Hence, until the recent past,
Nepal followed the traditional three-tier sixteen-year education system, allocating ten years to school education,
four years to college level studies - two years each for intermediate and bachelor program, and two to the Masters
program at the university.
During the 1950s and in the subsequent decades, Nepali students started facing comparative disadvantage in
their academic and professional career advancement not to mention in the regional or international fields
even in their home country. Therefore, in order to make the nepali education system more competitive and
compatible, policy and structural changes were made and gradually implemented, although for the lack of funds
and resources only at a snail's speed during the last three five year plan periods. As a result, the present
education system although still in the transition phase, stands as follows:
(i) Pre-School Education
The pre-school learning, be it kindergarten, Montessori or any other form of pre-school education, does not yet
form an integral part of the formal school education system. Nevertheless, the need for such facility is being
increasingly felt by the society. And, a number of pre-school establishments have come into
to the demand particularly among the affluent, the educated and the working parents in the urban areas. These
facilities range from simple day-care centers operated by semi skilled tutors and ayahs to sophisticated but informal
playgroups run by trained teachers and nurses, and from formal pro-primary schools managed as junior wings of large
school set-ups to advanced westernized kindergarten and Montessori pre-school establishments. Very different in their
fees and infrastructure, they profess equally diverse professional objectives and educational goals, and practice
divergent approaches to early education. His Majesty's Government of Nepal has recently formulated some guidelines
for pre-primary curricula.
(ii) School Education
(a) Primary Level
(b) Middle School/Lower Secondary Level (S.L.C.)
(c) High School/ Secondary Level
(d) 10+2/ Higher Secondary Level
Formal school education in Nepal officially spans a period of 12 years, at the successful completion of which a
student graduates with a certificate of Higher Secondary Education (10+2). However, since the majority of the schools
in the country have not been upgraded for the lack of funds and resources to the 10+2 level, the old high school system
with School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination at the end of 10 year still persists. Most of them are public schools
funded by the government. However, they have not been able to reach and maintain the expected educational quality standards,
nor have they been able to address the needs of the society. If the lack of adequate funds and resources is partly to be blamed,
the lack of accountability and too much of politicization in the educational administration from the bottom to the top most
hierarchy have had a crippling effect or the educational system. The S.L.C. examination results of the public schools, which
have been getting bad to worse over the years, bear witness to this fact. Not surprisingly at all, in spite of tin provision
of free education up to primary level and free distribution of books to girl-children and children of socially discriminated
ethnic groups up to lower secondary level, parents prefer to send their children to comparatively more expensive private schools
right from the beginning.
The private schools in general have better facilities, are better managed and have been showing a much better performance in the S.L.C. examinations.
However, the quality standards of the private schools, too, are not consistent and vary considerably from school to school. There are, on the one
hand 'A’ class private school establishments managed and run by charity organizations, companies, trusts or? visionary individuals, and on
the other, the so called private English boarding schools operated by business minded people in semi-furnished residential houses or even
factory-like tin-shades, which are in fact nothing more than teaching-shops. They do, nevertheless, seem to be catering to the taste and the
need of the different sections of the society. In addition, the capital also has a British and an American School, which, although initially
started for the children of the foreign diplomats, have opened their doors to Nepali children, too.
In the recent years, some public schools have upgraded themselves to the 10+2 level will governmental support, and in the urban and semi-urban
areas a number of private 10+2 institution; have sprung up without any lower school base. This sorry state of transition to 10+2 level has
forced the universities to continue their intermediate or proficiency certificate level program! for the time being, at least until 2005
according to the latest revised phase-out schedule. Hence,| present, the 10+2 level school education in Nepal is being administered parallely
and independent by the university as its intermediate program and as a higher secondary school education program by the Higher Education Board
of the Ministry of Education, HMG/Nepal. Meanwhile, the S.L.C Examination continues to remain as the iron-gate to be crossed for an entry into
either of the above programs.
The SLC Examination System.
The SLC thus being the gate way to higher education commands full attention of all concerned-students and their parents, teachers and their
institutions. The students are virtually groomed for the S.L.C. from s VIII onwards. They are taught the actual S.L.C. courses in class IX
and X and are required to pass the qualifying examination, popularly called Sent-up Test, at the end of class X to be eligible to appear in
the C. examination. The S.L.C. requires the students to take three-hour written examination of 100 marks in each subject for the entire
syllabus covered in two years of class IX and X.
The evaluation scheme follows the traditional marking system with division ratings as follows:
35%and above to below45% - Pass with 3nd division.
45% and above to below 60% - Pass with 2nd division.
60% and above to below 80% - Pass with 1st division.
80% and above - Pass with distinction.
The S.L.C., however, as the policy makers claim, is now a matter of only a few years because after the full, nation-wide implementation of the 10+2 system,
the present S.L.C. examination will be replaced by a or regional level class X examination. The Higher Secondary Education Board only will t national level
10+2 annual examinations to certify students of having completed their secondary school education or what is popularly called school education in the west.
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