Quality Teaching and Learning in
Nepalese Classrooms
Ganesh Bahadur Singh
Introduction
Nepal first put priority on increasing access to education and improving
education quality in its first national commission on education, the Nepal
National Education Planning Commission (NNEPC), in 1954 (College of
Education, 1956). Nepal’s net enrolment rate (NER) and gross enrolment rate
(GER) have both improved significantly over the past 60 years, but Nepal
nevertheless is unlikely to achieve universal primary education by 2015. In
2011, the net attendance rate (NAR) at primary level was only 68.8 per cent
(Central Bureau of Statistics [CBS], 2011a), indicating that considerable efforts
are still required to increase access to education.
In terms of improvements in the quality of education in general, and in
teaching and learning practices in particular, it is clear that achievements
over the past six decades have been inadequate and further efforts are vital.
This chapter explores Nepalese efforts to transform teaching and learning
practices and the impacts so far, and analyses the facts to identify possible
ways forward.
Background
Country context
Nepal, a landlocked country, encompasses an area of 147,181 square
kilometres. The country is bordered by India to the west, south and east,
and by the Tibet region of China to the north. The country is divided into
three geographic regions (mountain, hill and terai) and five administrative
regions (eastern, central, western, mid-western and far-western). The country
is further divided into 14 zones and 75 districts. Nepal has a population of 26.6
million, according to the 2011 census (CBS, 2011b). The population is diverse,
comprising 125 ethnic groups speaking about 123 languages.