Nepal Quality Education for All: building a brighter future through inclusive and equitable education

For over two decades, the EU has been transforming education in Nepal, ensuring equitable access and better learning outcomes for all. The EU supports the transformative role of education in achieving Nepal’s long-term social and economic development goals.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges in Nepal’s education system (particularly disparities in access and learning outcomes) have deepened, disproportionately impacting remote and marginalised communities. The Nepal Quality Education for All project addresses these pressing issues with a focus on inclusion, quality, and systemic improvement.

Objectives

The Quality Education for All initiative seeks to contribute to a well-educated, skilled society in Nepal that actively drives the country’s social and economic development.

To achieve this, the project focuses on three key objectives:

• Equitable access: enhance inclusive access to education for all children, with particular attention to socially and economically disadvantaged groups, marginalised communities, and children with disabilities.
• Improved quality: elevate the quality and relevance of free basic and secondary education, ensuring all children achieve minimum learning standards.
• Strengthened systems: empower local education systems through improved governance and coordination.

Activities

To achieve these objectives, the project focuses on three main areas of intervention:

• Support local governments to manage, monitor, and evaluate education services, with a focus on provinces facing the greatest challenges.
• Offer teachers targeting training to enhance their skills, and develop effective educational materials tailored to students’ needs. The project also equips local education authorities with the resources to manage and evaluate teaching practices, ensuring that education is both inclusive and of high quality across all regions. 
• Engage Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at multiple levels, from shaping policy to implementing grassroots initiatives, ensuring education is inclusive, equitable, and accessible to all.  

Expected results 

The Quality Education for All initiative aims to deliver measurable improvements across key indicators:

• Increased enrolment and completion: higher school completion rates at both primary and secondary levels.
• Enhanced learning outcomes: reduced disparities in learning achievements, particularly for disadvantaged children and marginalised groups.
• Improved teaching quality: a rise in Grade 8 pass rates from 75% to 87%.
• Improved capacities of local governments: expanded implementation of the Education Sector Plan, with specific targets to increase the coverage of school management systems. 

By empowering teachers, engaging communities, and strengthening governance, this initiative ensures that Nepal’s children have the tools to thrive and build a brighter future.