Millennium Development Goals for Education 2015 - Education for All
Nepal has adopted a National Plan of Action, focusing on achieving the six Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015. Nepal’s EFA programme is drawing upon support from pooling partners, non-pooling partners and national as well as international NGOs and local communities. Norway together with Denmark, DFID, Finland, the World Bank, AusAID, EC, UNICEF and the Asian Development Bank are coordinating their support for the programme through a joint financing arrangement (JFA) for sector budget support. Norway’s bilateral agreement with the Government of Nepal for support to the national education program is NOK 219 million from 2009/10 to 2013/14.
The EFA programme has sought to satisfy basic learning needs through public policies aimed at providing universal access to good quality primary education and developing new learning opportunities for young children as well as for youth and adults. Since 2009 the government of Nepal begun to implement the School Sector Reform Plan 2009 -2015 which aims at restructuring school education with basic education (consisting of Grades 1-8) and secondary education (consisting of Grades 9-12). In this program, the Nepal government has set the targets of school education sector (for 2015-16) based on the achievements in the key indicators of EFA 2004-09. Nepal has made significant progress since the Education for All 2004, but the progress has been uneven within and between the development regions, eco-belts and district.
The School Sector Reform
The School Sector Reform Core Document (2008) is a result of a national initiative and a product of local efforts. The reform programme will aim to consolidate the gains made under EFA and meet access, equity and quality goals for primary schooling while simultaneously focusing on expanding the coverage of the school sector. The programme has a sector wide approach which includes early childhood development and education and also intends to make schooling more relevant to the needs of early school leavers by piloting vocational streams at the post-basic level. A key aspect of the program is its focus on developing quality assurance mechanisms, and improving the accountability framework for the delivery of key services. The overarching goal is to ensure learners’ equitable access to quality education, change the school structure, and to enhance institutional and organisational and human capacity.
The School Sector Reform Plan 2009 -2015 presents policies, strategic options and implementation strategies to meet issues and challenges identified, such as integrating basic and secondary levels, improving quality and relevance, ensuring inclusive participation, decentralising education management and financing.
The Department of Education (DOE) is the main agency responsible for implementation of policies and programmes formulated and set by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in coordination with other central level agencies of the MoE, and develop the norms and standards to ensure a working framework for regions, districts and schools. DOE is also accountable for facilitating and monitoring educational programmes and project activities.
Quality education and times of conflict
The fragile political situation is still a challenge for the education sector. However, during the years of conflict, the education sector was able to make considerable progress and maintained delivery of services in most parts of the country. In addition to the national education programme, Norway also supports Save the Children and UNICEF’s programs to strengthen the governance aspects of service delivery and to improve quality in education by promoting protective environments in schools and child friendly learning methods. Their interventions also include mitigation of impact of disaster and conflict, as well as opportunities for obtaining basic education and skills to children who are out of school. Both agencies have a strong focus on social inclusion and reaching vulnerable groups.
Children at School. Photo: Kristine Storholt
Read more about Norwegian support to education on NORADs web pages.
See also the article in Norwegian on Norad's web pages about Norway's support to the education sector in Nepal.