Education and Scholarships in Nepal

How the education system is organised

Nepal's school system begins with early childhood education, then eight years of basic schooling, followed by four years of secondary schooling divided into two stages. The School Leaving Certificate exam was replaced in 2016 by the Secondary Education Examination at the end of Grade 10, and students then choose a two-year stream — science, management, humanities or education — before university.

Instruction is bilingual in practice: Nepali and English are both used, with English increasingly dominant in private schools and in the science stream. The federal structure introduced by the 2015 constitution moved basic and secondary schooling to local governments, while higher education remains largely a national and provincial matter.

The ladder, stage by stage

Stage	Grades	Ends with
Early childhood	Pre-primary	Entry to Grade 1
Basic education	1–8	Basic level completion
Secondary	9–10	Secondary Education Examination (SEE)
Higher secondary	11–12	School leaving certificate
Tertiary	Bachelor onwards	University degree

Higher education

Tribhuvan University, founded in 1959, remains the largest provider with the widest network of affiliated campuses. Kathmandu University, established in 1991, and Pokhara University, Purbanchal University, Mid-Western and Far-Western universities later widened the map, mostly outside the Kathmandu Valley. Alongside them, private colleges affiliated to these universities run popular programmes in management, engineering, nursing and information technology.

Two patterns stand out. First, demand is concentrated in a handful of fields — management, IT, nursing and engineering — because they are perceived as employable. Second, competition for seats at well-regarded campuses is intense, which pushes many students towards colleges that cost more or towards study abroad.

Studying abroad

Leaving Nepal for higher study has become a mainstream option rather than an elite one. Nursing and IT in the USA, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and South Korea are consistently among the most sought-after destinations, and consultancies have grown up to handle applications, language tests and visa paperwork. The practical trade-off is cost: tuition and living expenses abroad are far beyond average household budgets, so family remittances and education loans usually fund the move.

Choosing well

• Pick the stream in Grades 11–12 that matches the degree you actually intend to take, not the one your friends chose.
• Check whether the college is affiliated to a recognised university before paying admission fees.
• For abroad, compare total cost of the whole programme, not the first year, and confirm the institution's standing with the relevant authority.
• Keep documents — transcripts, character certificates, migration certificates — in order early; they delay more applications than test scores do.

Keep reading

See our guides on FHSU courses and admission, studying nursing in the USA, and checking EDV results.

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