Dates: 2003 – 2015
Funded by: UNICEF
Quality of education in Nepal is generally poor, characterized by high drop-out rates and schools that lack child- and girl-friendly facilities and child-centered learning environments. In July of 2003, World Education, UNICEF, and the Department of Education (DoE) formally established a partnership to collaborate towards the advancement of Nepal’s formal school system, increase enrollment over time, decentralize decision-making and responsibility for schools in Nepal and improve the quality of education in government schools. World Education provided non-formal, technical, and vocational education to special groups and working children to ensure they attend and stay in school.
Since the program’s inception, World Education has:
- Developed and expanded the Welcome to School Campaign (WTSC) to increase enrollment and retention of children/students at schools. This effort was a major contributor to the increase of 1.9 million students at basic and secondary levels from 2002 to 2010.
- Developed and piloted 30 Quality Education Resource Package (QERP) modules to address quality in schools. In so doing, QERP materials have been delivered to all 1,050 Resource Centers (RCs) and Educational Training Centers (ETCs).
- Provided direct support to more than 7,000 schools (including schools supported through this collaboration and schools supported through World Education alone) to address various aspects of quality in schools.
- Provided training to the staff and trainers of government line agencies, UNICEF and I/NGOs on the use of QERP to build effective child friendly schools.
- Supported the enhancement of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to enable 75 districts, 32,000 schools and central level staff to use data for effective planning purposes. The piloting of student tracking systems is an example of this effort. The collaboration on preparing 5-year District Education Plans also corresponds to this support, by improving the equitable distribution of resources.
- Worked in collaboration with national and district level government including DoE, National Center for Educational Development (NCED), District Education Officers (DEOs), and the Curriculum Development Center. This includes collaboration with the NCED to deliver trainings to Resource Persons, School Supervisors, Head Teachers and teachers, as well as consulting with the DoE on district level coordination with DEOs.
- Helped design and endorse Child Friendly School Initiative (CFSI) National Framework to be implemented at the school level and established Minimum Enabling Standards, and worked in collaboration with the NCED and DoE to deliver CFSI trainings to teachers.