OLPC Nepal/Background

Background summaries: Afghanistan, Nepal, Haiti, Rwanda, Ethiopia

National Education Background

Read about Nepal's Education background through the Education in Nepal Wikipedia page. Some national education statistics from UNICEF and UNESCO are below.

The School Sector Reform Plan (2009-2015): The SSRP is a major undertaking by the government and supported by the donors and other stakeholders. Most of the education budget goes to this program. The School Sector Reform Project aims to increase access to and improve quality of school education, particularly basic education (Grades 1-8), especially for children from marginalized groups. The total estimated cost of the project is $2.6 billion USD. There are two components to the Project:

• The first component of the project is basic education. The primary objective of this component is to ensure equitable access and quality of basic education for all children in age group 5-12, prepare pre-school-age children through Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) for basic education and deliver basic numeracy and literacy to youths and adults, especially women and marginalized groups.
• The second component of the project is secondary education. This component aims to improve equitable access to secondary education by financing: (i) the expansion of physical facilities, including classroom construction and rehabilitation, library and laboratory construction, and the construction of schools for children with special needs (CWSN), and (ii) targeted scholarship schemes for dalits, marginalized groups, disabled, girls and children from poor households.

The Education for All (EFA) Program: The Education for All Project began in 1990 at the World Conference in Jomteim. The project's long-term development objective is to improve access to, and benefit from basic and primary education for children, especially girls and children from disadvantaged groups, and from literacy programs for poor adults. The project will achieve three strategic goals: a) improving access to, and equity of basic and primary education; b) enhancing educational quality and relevance; and, c) improving efficiency, and institutional capacity of education service delivery.

According to the UN Nepal website, the EFA National Plan of Action has outlined its framework according to the following six major goals set by Dakar Forum in 2005 for the year 2015 and one more goal added to suit national contexts with the spirit and the ultimate goals of the EFA. These goals are:

• To expand and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
• To ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education to good quality.
• To ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programs. iv) To achieve a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy 2015, especially for women and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
• To eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girl's full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
• To ensure the right of indigenous people and linguistic minorities to quality basic and primary education through their mother tongue.
• To improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized essential life skills.

Education Statistics

UNICEF's State of the World's Children Report 2009 Statistics

Categories	Numbers
Total adult literacy rate (%), 2000-2007	57
Primary school net enrollment/ attendance (%), 2000-2007	84
Youth literacy, 2000–2007 (M / F)<ref> Youth literacy rate – Number of literate persons aged 15–24, expressed as a percentage of the total population in that age group.</ref>	85 / 73
Percentage of phone/internet users 2006	4 / 1
Primary school gross enrollment (%) 2000-2007 (M / F)<ref> Primary school gross enrollment ratio – Number of children enrolled in primary school, regardless of age,expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official primary school age. </ref>	129 / 123
Primary school net enrollment (%) 2000-2007 (M / F)<ref> Primary school net enrollment ratio – Number of children enrolled in primary school who are of official primary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official primary school age. </ref>	91 / 87
Primary school net attendance (%) 2000-2007 (M / F) <ref> Primary school net attendance ratio – Number of children attending primary or secondary school who are of official primary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official primary school age. </ref>	86 / 82
Survival rate to last primary grade (%) 2000–2007 (administrative / survey data) <ref> Survival rate to the last grade of primary school – Percentage of children entering the first grade of primary school who eventually reach the last grade of primary school. </ref>	81 / 95
Secondary school gross enrollment (%) 2000-2007 (M/F)<ref> Secondary school gross enrollment ratio – Number of children enrolled in secondary school, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official secondary school age. </ref>	46 / 41
Secondary school net enrollment (%) 2000-2007 (M/F)<ref> Secondary school net enrollment ratio – Number of children enrolled in secondary school who are of official secondary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official secondary school age.</ref>	X / X
Secondary school net attendance (%) 2000-2007 (M/F)<ref> Secondary school net attendance ratio – Number of children attending secondary or tertiary school who are of official secondary school age, expressed as a percentage of the total number of children of official secondary school age. </ref>	46 / 38

UNESCO Education Statistics in Nepal from 2007

Categories	Numbers
Survival rate to grade 5	62%
Primary to secondary transition rate	81%
Pupil/teacher ratio (primary)	38:1
Public expenditure on education as % of GDP	3.8%
Public expenditure on education as % of total government expenditure	19%
Literacy Rates for Male and Female Adults Combined	57.9%
Enrollment in public and private primary school <ref> The following four categories' information comes from a 2007 custom table which can be found at http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=136&IF_Language=eng&BR_Topic=0 </ref>	4,515,059
Enrollment in public primary school	4,126,833
Female enrollment in public and private primary school	2,181,247
Female enrollment in public primary school	2,015,346

OLPC/OLE's Work In Nepal

History and Deployments: detailed article:OLPC Nepal

The OLPC-Nepal chapter began with two Nepali engineering students. The project was taken over by OLE (Open Learning Exchange), an NGO dedicated to assisting the Government Nepal in meeting its Education for All goals by developing freely accessible, open-source Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based educational teaching-learning materials. Nepal's original pilot schools included the Bishwamitra Ganesh Secondary School and the Bashuki Lower Secondary School. On April 25, 2008, A total of 135 laptops were deployed to students in grades 2 and 6 in both schools. OLE partnered with the Nepalese Government Department of Education for these deployments. A year later, on April 26, 2009 OLE Nepal deploys nearly 2500 laptops to 26 schools in 6 districts of Nepal. XO Laptops are installed with E-Paath interactive learning activities integrated into curriculum for classes 2, 3, and 6.

In its two years of operation, laptops have been deployed to teachers and students in 26 schools in six districts and 125 teachers have been trained to integrate the laptop-based approach in classroom teaching.(from the OLE Nepal January/Feburary 2010 newsletter).

E-Paath: E-Paath is a collection of digital education materials prepared by OLE Nepal. Digital content is the backbone of ICT-based education. Providing laptops with relevant and localized education content increases the possibility of their being used regularly in classrooms. The activities are tailored to the Nepali context, child-friendly, open source, multi-media based and fun to use. In April 2008, a Pilot program was launched at the two schools in the Kathmandu for grades 2 and 6.

All activities are developed on curriculum objectives outlined by the Curriculum Development Center (CDC) and are conceptualized by curriculum experts. After conceptualization, they go through a process of graphic design, programming, testing and finalization before being deployed to the schools. The in-house software team is also building learning activities designed by education experts. The activities can be used by teachers to fulfill learning objectives, are subject and grade specific, and have been designed for classroom use. Using these activities as part of the regular instruction process, the students can learn new concepts, do practice exercises (for both class work and home work), and self-assess their progress. In short, these learning activities enhance the possibility of self-learning.

E-Pustakalaya Development (E-Library): OLE Nepal’s implementation model focuses on the creation and distribution of content. A digital library, in this case E-Pustakalaya (E-Library), is an integral part of this model. E-Pustakalaya is envisioned as a common resource of a variety of educational texts and reference materials, not unlike any physical library. Its User Interface (UI) development is also inkeeping with this vision.

At a glance, the objectives that have driven the development of E-Pustakalaya are as follows:

• To make the library resemble (to the extent possible) a physical library, in terms of ordering and grouping of content
• To make a variety of content (e.g. Novels, Textbooks, Audio, Video, Magazines) available, and have interface options (specifically in terms of language) to view them in
• To streamline the user interface to ease access to required information with minimal point and click effort
• To provide online and offline access at partner schools to the available content
• To allow for easy tagging, searching and linking of content
• To make the content downloadable for offline reading

Work with WFP In Nepal

As part of the April 2009 laptop deployment, the United Nations World Food Programme helped launch an OLPC pilot project in the Dadeldhura district in partnership with OLE Nepal and the Nepal Government's Department of Education. The initiative deployed 180 laptops to second and third graders and teachers in three government, Far Western Nepal schools. The project also provides Nepali-language interactive teaching and learning materials to primary schools. WFP also provides mid-day meals of fortified wheat-soya blend to 182,000 primary school students living in 11 Far-Western districts.

Education Development Initiatives in Nepal

Summary of Educational Development Initiatives

Name of Organization	Investment in Country	People/Major Projects
UNICEF		UNICEF is involved in a variety of education initiatives in Nepal. Its ‘Welcome to School’ campaign has greatly increased enrolment and literacy rates for girls and disadvantaged children, and has raised overall birth registration rates. Nearly 60,000 boys and girls, 20 per cent from disadvantaged groups, are active in some 3,000 child clubs supported by UNICEF.
WFP	(see section below for information about WFP's activities in Nepal)	(see section below for information about WFP's activities in Nepal)
WHO		The WHO Strategic Agenda in Nepal (2006-2011) involves strengthening the health system, control and prevention of disease and disability, human resource development, hild, adolescent and reproductive health, healthier environments, and emergency preparedness and response/ In 2005, the World Health Organization validated the elimination of neo-natal tetanus from Nepal (from the UNICEF website).
UNESCO		The UNESCO Office in Kathmandu contributes to building peace, alleviating poverty, and fostering sustainable development and intercultural dialogue in Nepal through education, science, culture, communication and information. UNESCO's focus on education works to attain quality Education for All focusing on gender equality and adult literacy.
UNDP	In 2009, expenditure reached $ 37.2 million across the five thematic areas.	UNDP Nepals's priorities include transitional governance, inclusive growth & sustainable livelihood, peace building and recovery, energy, environment, and natural disaster management, HIV/AIDS. They have also created a "Community Owned Primary Education Programme (COPE) that aims to increase access to primary education to 120 new community primary schools in six districts.
IFRC	The total budget for 2010 is $1.54 million	The Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) is the largest humanitarian organization in the country. For the 2010-2011 year, the organization's plan targets to reach approximately 880,300 persons over two years, including: • disaster management: 270,000 persons (129,600 male and 140,400 female), • health and care: 489,300 persons (195,780 male and 293,520 female), • organizational development: 101, 000 persons (56,000 male and 45,000 female), and • humanitarian values: 20,000 persons (10,000 male and 10, 000 female).
World Vision		World Vision Nepal is focused on leadership, local governance, HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, and education. The basic objective of World Vision International Nepal's work in the education sector is to increase poor and underprivileged children’s access to quality education. World Vision International Nepal also partners to provide non-formal education classes; teachers' training; facilities such as science laboratories, libraries, furniture, construction of buildings and toilets; drinking water facilities in schools; and working with parents. They have also initiated projects such as 'Education Support Project' in Jumla to help children gain access to school and learning, and the 2007 'Bhaktapur Adolescent Girls' Education Project' to lower the drop out rate of young and vulnerable girls.
Save the Children	As of April 1st, 2009, Save the Children became one of the largest child-focused organizations in Nepal, working with over 90 partners in 56 districts and reaching over 1.5 million children.	Save the Children's programmatic activities in Nepal include education, health and nutrition, child protection, child rights, HIV/AIDS, and emergency response.
USAID		USAID programs seek to cement recent gains in peace and security, stabilize the transitional government, strengthen the delivery of essential social services to help establish a firm foundation for economic recovery, and address global challenges of food insecurity and climate change. USAID has a number of education initiatives in Nepal as well, including organizing vocational training classes, providing health information to 30,000 children, and creating student employment networks.
SOS Children's Villages		SOS Children's Village Nepal has founded eight schools in the country. They have also established a number of youth facilities, medical centers, social centers, children villages, which can be found on this map.
World Bank	Active credits and grants total US$1.04 billion as of January 31, 2010.$307 million is devoted towards the education sector.	Poverty reduction is the main objective underlying the World Bank's activities in Nepal. To accelerate human development, the Bank’s assistance to Nepal has focused on improving the quality of education and health care. The School Sector Reform Plan approved in FY10, builds on Nepal’s leadership in the areas of community management of schools; leveraging community resources to augment public expenditures for education; improving accountability among teachers; enhancing transparency in government grants to schools; and ensuring that certified teachers and quality textbooks reach schools when and where they are needed. As part of the Government of Nepal’s Education for All goals, the World Bank currently finances a slice of public expenditures at all levels of the in the school system and supports Nepal’s plans to upgrade the basic and secondary education cycles.

Other Educational Development Initiatives

Name of Organization	Investment in Country	People/Major Projects
World Education		World Education is a private voluntary organization that provides training and technical assistance in nonformal education across a wide array of sectors. The organization has a number of education projects in Nepal, including: Quality Education Resource Package (QERP): In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, and local partners, QUERP provides a "toolkit" of materials and activities. Initially piloted in 2000 schools, there are plans to expand the use of the QERP to all 26,000 primary schools across the country. Rehabilitation of Children/Youth Affected by Armed Conflict: World Education has facilitated the reintegration and rehabilitation of children/youth formerly associated with armed forces & armed groups (CAAFAG) and children affected by armed conflict (CAAC) as per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006. With support from the US Department of Labor and UNICEF, World Education is providing education support to 1,000 CAFG and 450 vulnerable children to attend formal school or vocational training. Brighter Futures Program: One in every three children is a child laborer in Nepal. Working with the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor in Nepal, World Education is aiming to combat child labor through education. Activities are carried out at the local level and policy level with the government and international agencies. This includes provision of non formal education opportunities and the strengthening of community based education.
Nepal Special Needs School Partnerships with UNICEF		The good practice models for this study included two inclusive schools (Daleki School, and Tribhuvan Madhyamik Vidhyalaya), a community-based programme (Community Based Rehabilitation Organization, Bhaktapur), an early intervention programme (Adarsha Child Development Centre) and a teachers’ development initiative (Shree Bindeshwori Primary School, Bidhuwa). The Daleki School is run by an NGO and is supported by individual sponsors. All children from marginalized families, including those with disabilities, have access to the school. The school provides a holistic service including free school meals, books, stationery, uniforms and medical care. The school principal, all teachers including the special education teachers, and parents work collaboratively to decide how best to meet the diverse needs of their students.
Good Neighbors International (GNI)		GNI launched its work in Nepal in 2002 with the objective of child care and community development. It is an INGO based on Republic of South Korea with consultative status in UN ECOSOC (United Nation Economic and Social Council). Since its establishment GNI have been operating child development and community development activities in different parts of Nepal through its partner NGO Ashal Chhimeki Nepal (Good Neighbors Nepal). The organization operates hostels and classrooms for poor children in different parts of Nepal, including near Kathmandu.
Caritas Nepal		Caritas Nepal works mostly in the western region and operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. Pays particular attention to Bhutanese refugees children’s education. (Also happens to be one of the WFP's main priorities)
Equal Access		While their work does not focus on on-the-ground education initiatives, Equal Access utilizes digital satellite broadcasting technology to bring vital development information direct to underserved communities in rural settings. It implements numerous communications for development projects in Nepal, with programming on a range of thematic areas including education, healthcare, microfinance, sustainable agriculture, human rights and conflict management, HIV/AIDS and women’s empowerment.
Save the Children USA		Save the Children USA aims to help children and youth develop their potential, complete a basic education and be prepared to be productive citizens. SC/US works with parents, communities, local organizations and governments to offer high-quality early childhood development, non-formal education and school programs.

World Food Programme in Nepal

Overview of Food Insecurity in Nepal from the WFP Nepal website:

• 3.5 million people in Nepal are considered to be moderately to severely food insecure.
• 41% of the population is estimated to be undernourished (total July 2010 population estimate is 28,951,852)
• Food insecurity is due to a variety of factors, including:
  • Weak agricultural growth;
  • Strong population growth;
  • High rates of poverty;
  • Geographical isolation; and
  • Inadequate access to health services, water, and sanitation.

WFP's work in Nepal WFP targets the most food insecure, hard to reach, and least supported districts of the Mid and Far Western Hills and Mountains. In 2010, WFP provided support to 2.2 million people in Nepal. Their strategic priorities include:

• • 1. Support the country’s protracted peace and recovery process by reducing hunger and undernutrition;
  • 2. Fostering increased resilience amongst vulnerable communities;
  • 3. Providing humanitarian response to and preparing for increased environmental disasters

WFP's Projects in Nepal:

1. Assistance for Vulnerable Populations Affected by Conflict, High Food Prices and Natural Disasters, including relief and recovery operations that target 1.6 million people in 2010 (WFP's largest program) As of mid-2010, operation has reached 770,000 beneficiaries in 22 food insecure districts.

• Food and Cash for Assets Activities: supports communities in developing resources and enterprises aimed at reducing hunger. Beneficiaries are engaged in projects such as building and repairing roads, irrigation systems, fishery ponds, and cash crop cultivation. Carried out between planting and harvest period when household food stocks are leanest.
• Micronutrient Supplementation Interventions for Children: WFP provides sachets of micronutrient powder (MNP) to 114,000 young children (6-59 months) of food/cash-for-assets participating households in 25 districts.

2. Country Programme: 520,000 Nepalese (including direct recipients and family members) benefit from the following activities:

• School Feeding & One Laptop per Child: (See above)
• Girls’ Incentive Programme (GIP): More than 54,000 school girls receive monthly-take home rations of cooking oil as an incentive for regular school attendance. Implemented together with school feeding in 11 Far Western districts and independently in five Terai districts where girls’ school attendance is very low.
• Mother and Child Health Care: provides monthly, take-home rations of fortified food to 31,000 pregnant and lactating mother adn their children.

3. Food Assistance to Refugees from Bhutan: In 2010, WFP will provide daily food assistance to more than 80,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Eastern Nepal.

4. Emergency Operations: Disaster Response in Nepal: WFP provides logistical immediate disaster response in 60 of Nepal's 75 districts. Operations include providing relief supplies to 170,000 people following major flooding of the Koshi River in October 2008, and extending food assistance to 700,000 additional people during the 2008/2009 winter drought. Since 2006, WFP has provided emergency food assistance to over one million people in Nepal.

5.Food Security Monitoring: 32 field based staff collect data on food and crop security matters through PDAs and satelite telephone. The information is sent to Kathmandu where it is analyzed to detect early warning food security issues and analyze rural food systems. The system is expected to be operational in all 75 districts of Nepal by mid 2011.

1. WFP Operations in Nepal

Categories	Numbers
Planned Beneficiaries	2,254,850
Beneficiary needs	US$ 90,543,999
Multilateral contribution donations	US$ 1,977,200
USA Donations	US$ 1,092,528
Private Donors	US$ 478,069
Denmark	US$ 71,968

Other Resources:

Nepal Education Resources

• Nepal's Ministry of Education website
• Nepal's Department of Education website
• Wikipedia page on Education in Nepal

OLE in Nepal

• OLE Nepal
• OLE Nepal blog
• OLE Nepal Newsletters
  • January/February 2010 newsletter
  • May/June 2010newsletter

NGO Resources

• List of NGOs in Nepal
• Association of International NGOs in Nepal (AIN}
• UNICEF report on examples of inclusive education in Nepal
• UN Nepal Agency Profiles, including a list of NGOs

Food Security Resources

• WFP's Food Security Monitoring System

Notes

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