The People of Nepal

Education
Education in Nepal improved greatly during the late twentieth century. In the early 1950's , only about 5 percent of Nepalis older than six years were literate. And only a few thousand children from the richest families attended school. In the 1971 the Nepali government introduced a new education plan. This ongoing plan focuses on building schools and adding teachers every year.
The additional schools and teachers in turn have lifted Nepal's literacy and enrollment rates. By 2001 the literacy rate was 54 percent. Primary school enrollment stood at 81 percent. Lower secondary enrollment was 40 percent, and secondary school enrollment was 26 percent.
Nepal's formal public education system consists of four levels. The nation's twenty-five thousand primary schools lower secondary schools offer grades six through eight. More than four thousand secondary schools serve grades nine and ten. About one thousand higher secondary schools – a new feature of Nepali education – offer grades eleven and twelve.
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