Education for all in Nepal

In Nepal, prior to 1951, education was the privilege if aristocratic and a few well to do families. Access to education was confined to the cities and the district headquarters. In 1951the number of primary schools was 321 and there was no organized system of adult education. Hence, the service of basic and primary education was limited to a smaller section of the population, not for all. After the dawn of democracy in 1951 people became aware of education. Consequently, the number of primary schools grew rapidly and in 1961 this number reached 4001. The growth of primary schools in 10 years i.e. from 1854 to 1951 is exceedingly greater than in 97 years Rana regime i.e. from 1854 to 1951. Besides, concerted efforts were also made to initiate and expand adult education programme within and outside the Kathmandu valley as recommended by National Education Planning Commission, 1955. Similarly, the number of primary schools reached 7256 prior to the implementation of National Education System plan1971-1976 (NESP) i.e. in 1970 and it was 19498 in 1992. It shows that from the beginning of NESP in 1971 to the end of primary schools increased by 2.5 times. Likewise, different non-formal education programmes were also being conducted under Non-formal education Center in an organized and systematic way in all the districts of the country. All these efforts facilitated to make basic and primary education accessible to all. However, all the poor and disadvantaged people did not have access to even basic and primary education.
A lot efforts are being carried out nationally, regionally and internationally to provide basic and primary education services to all including marginalized/special focus group such as dalits, girls, ethnic and linguistic minorities, children with disabilities, working children, street children, children affected by conflict and children in remote and/or poor habitation. Generally, the efforts made regionally and internationally gave impetus to the developing nations to make commitments for providing education for all and materialize them. This article, basically, tries to touch upon the international, regional and national context related to Education for All.