New budget to declare secondary education free

KATHMANDU, Oct 26: The government is declaring education up to secondary level free for all under the budget for the current fiscal year, said Finance Minister Surendra Pandey. It is also providing incentives to all enrolled students to discourage dropouts.

The new program under the upcoming budget, if it comes into force, will directly benefit some 6.5 million students studying up to 10th grade in public schools across the country. So far, public schools have been providing financial support for books to students who cannot unafford them.

The incentives for students from dalit and underprivileged groups will be even higher; for others it will be nominal.

Under the program targeted specially at developing human capital, the government has settled on providing Rs 70 per month to all dalit students to encourage them to continue their studies.

All girl students will get Rs 60 per month and others, Rs 50 per month.

If the legislature-parliament allows him to present the budget and endorses it, Pandey will spend as much as Rs 5 billion for implementing the new program.

“We have worked out the financial burden it will create. But as education holds the key to the development of the country, we are ready to bear the cost,” Pandey told Republica.

Ministry of Finance (MoF) officials, however, said that they have not yet worked out the modality for issuing the incentive to students.

“We want to make sure that the incentive is not misused, but have not finalized the modality,” said a source. He indicated that the government could decide to hand over the incentive amounts to the mothers of students to make sure of their proper use.

He stated that the government has sought the support of donors to implement the program. So far, donors have been contributing Rs 17 billion a year in the development of Nepal´s education sector. Apart from that the government spends around Rs 40 billion a year on education.

* All students to get incentives to attend school
* Dalit students to get Rs 70, girls Rs 60 and others Rs 50 per month
* Govt plans to entrust incentives to mothers
* Program to cost Rs 5b annually

The government will also continue to spend on an incentive system at schools on the basis of admission rate, dropout rate and pass percentage, in order to improve the quality of school education.

“A special incentive to check dropout is necessary, especially if we want to retain students from poor and underprivileged groups in the schools,” said Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Jagadish Chandra Pokharel.

He noted that the new program could make a meaningful contribution in attaining universal primary education, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Currently, enrollment in primary education stands at 93.7 percent and the government has set itself a target to raise that to 97 percent in the next three years.

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