Education financing of education and loan system in Nepal (09)

Bangladesh:
•The incremental education loan budgeting system should be changed to a more logical incremental budgeting system.
• Ministries of Education of?cials need to be trained in budget management information systems for the betterment of the education loan, student loan budgetary procedure.
• Financial and administrative power should be decentralized, up to a certain level, for issues such as recruitment of non-gazetted staff, sanctioning leave, granting of pensions, loans etc.
• The non-development and development education loan budgets should be integrated.
•  Training on the proper implementation of  finanancial rules and regulations should be given to personnel dealing with education loan administration.
• Higher educational degree, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university degrees should follow the government’s cost recovery policy.
• Random education loan budget cuts should be avoided as much as possible to enable the approved programme to be implemented.
•  System monitoring with regard to education loan budget implementation should be strengthened in the Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, as well as at the directorate level.
•  Co-ordination between the Ministry of Secondary education loan and Higher Education loan, the Ministry of Primary Education and Mass Education and agencies should be developed.

Conclusion
Social demand for higher educational degrees in Nepal is increasing very fast. To meet this increasing rate of demand for higher educational degrees six universities and two specialized institutions at the online university, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges level have already been established. Four other online universities including , two additional regional universities are in the process of opening. They are Mid-western and Far-western Regional Universities, Agriculture and Forestry University and National Open University. The faster development of higher educational degrees needs a lot of funds. The state funded universities namely TU and NSU are acutely facing the problem of cost recovery. A negligible percentage of unit cost has been covered by the present fee structure, which is highly suppressed by  the political intervention. The cost recovery position of other regional universities is not  at the satisfactory level. In this situation, the government of least developed countries like Nepal alone cannot meet the financial needs for higher educational degrees at the cost of other sectors' development. To some extent, community resource mobilization can be done to collect the additional funds for higher educational degrees development. But this source of funds is also not sufficient to meet the financial gap. Ultimately, the private sectors like education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university has gradually to  take the responsibility  of financing the higher education loan, student loan. But it is only possible if the higher educational degree is commercialized. Education has now been treated as both social as well as economic goods. Basic educational degree needs to be considered as social goods, which should be financed by the state and higher educational degree has to be considered as economic goods, for which private sector has to be active enough to education loan finance for it. 
The study has also shown that both public and private education loan financing are required. Volume of private financing for higher education student loan should be increased with respect to the increasing level of education loan.

The slogan "Education  for All" should be followed for school education at least for primary educational degree. Higher educational degree, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university degree should be developed following the  slogan "Education for Development". For social inclusive higher educational degree or to increase the access to the poor female, dalits, backward/deprived students to the higher educational degree, these private online colleges/ online Universities have to allot a certain percentage of seats for scholarships and student loan to these students and poor intelligent students in order to achieve the objective of social justice. The better and appropriate approach for increasing their access to higher educational degrees one university  (Tribhuvan University) at least should be declared as a state university. In addition to them, scheme of student loan should be effectively implemented with reasonable interest rate and pay back period. Regional universities have to be concentrated to their respective  regions. UGC needs to develop the appropriate, realistic and scientific basis for distributing grants to online universities with proper monitoring and evaluation of performance, output and financial conditions of online universities, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges.

Financing education is principally a government responsibility in Bangladesh, but the private sector bears a considerable portion of the total cost of educational degrees. This is particularly the case at secondary education and tertiary levels,where the private education sector bears the lion’s share of funding for salaries, the total allowances of teachers and other employees, the costs of land for school/institution premises and the costs of learning materials for non-government schools and colleges. The government funds both non-development and development expenditure on educational degrees through non-development and development allocations in the national budget. The sources of non-development allocations are the revenue earnings of the government, drawn from internal revenue sources. A considerable amount of development allocations comes from external aid, loans and grants, which account for less than 20 per cent of government development expenditure on basic educational degrees. The actual success of the Annual Development Programme depends on timely and proper implementation of projects. Since unnecessary delays in project implementation cause the main bottlenecks in the development process, it is essential that all responsible actors take appropriate steps from the very beginning. The recent Annual Development Programme gave highest priority to secondary level education followed by primary education and technical education. The investment schedule, though not entirely satisfactory, had a touch of realism. It is quite possible to make a nation literate and educated at a low level of development. University education stole a march over primary education and secondary education although, its favourable effect on redistribution of income aside, it is well known that development-linked functional literacy in general and production-conscious secondary education in particular constitutes the ‘steel frame’ of economic development.

Education financing of education and loan system in Nepal (08)

Recommendations about the educational Budget and loan of Nepal & Bangladesh

Nepal:
The national education policy has lead towards the commercialization of higher educational degrees by adopting the cost recovery principle in the higher education loan, student loan financial management since the government alone cannot meet the faster rising demand for higher educational degrees, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university due to the limited available financial resources. The present day slogan is the social inclusion in higher educational degrees, various education degrees, online masters degrees, online colleges, online university,  i.e., increasing access for women, dalits, indigenous and deprived people to the higher educational degrees. For this purpose, sufficient number of free ships / scholarship, education loan, student loan for them is required to make them easy access. Commercialization of higher educational degrees and increasing access for them to higher educational degrees, education degrees, bachelor degres are two extremes. That’s why; the government cannot escape from financing the higher educational degrees. Commercialization of higher educational degrees, education degrees can no doubt increase the private sector investment in education loan. However, both public and private sectors’ investment on education loan, student loans, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university  are required. 

Considering the above needs the government has to adopt the multi-universities concept and an appropriate financing modality for higher education loan has been recommended.
1.  There should be closer linkage between the non-development and development education loan budgets in order to effectively mobilize limited resources.
2. Offices formulating school-level education loan budgets involving development partners (donors) should do their part of the research to find out what donor’s conditions are for aid and work them into the education loan, student loan budget.
3.  Regional directorates should be more actively involved in the formulation of the development plan and education loan budget.
4.  The unit cost-based programme should be strictly followed and encouraged at NPC-level for formulating planning and education loan budgeting.
5.  Heavy dependence on foreign sources of funding leads to potential problems of sustainability for certain programmes. Attempts should be made to increase the government’s contribution to the development education loan budget.
6.  The existing Education Management Information System (EMIS) should be strengthened with a view to providing timely and reliable data for education loan budget, student loan purposes.
7.  The bottom-up planning approach should be gradually implemented along with the capacity-building programme of local stakeholders, to enable them to fully follow expenditure norms while formulating programme and education loan budget. NPC and MOF should jointly organize regular workshops/seminars on new methods of annual programme, education loan, student loans, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university  and education loan budget preparation at the regional level for concerned stakeholders.
8.  Adequate funding should be set aside for monitoring and evaluation. Certain major monitoring and supervision activities should be shifted from the central level to the Regional Education Directorate and local bodies in order to enhance the participatory approach.
9.  Planning and education loan budgeting of the non-development and development student loan budgets, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university should be undertaken from a single section in the Ministry in order to ensure consistency.

10.  Planning and education loan, student loan budgeting personnel should not be transferred frequently. If a transfer is necessary, then the transferred planning officer should be replaced with another planning officer.
11.  A strong and regular monitoring as well as supervision mechanism along with effective performance indicators should be developed and strengthened with regard to education loan budget implementation. Once developed, performance indicators should be fully implemented and practised.
12.  Resources for the duration of a project should be guaranteed in order for the project to operate smoothly. Any unspent funds, loan at the end of the fiscal year should not be frozen. A project’s proposed programme should not be limited with a  fixed  ceiling. Also, projects should be designed for funding in such a way that they can be run (on the basis of feasibility/viability of the programme) without interruption until the completion phase. Key project staff 

(including the project chief) should be assigned for the entire duration of the project.
13. The officers and staff working in the education loan Budget and Programme Division of MOF should be fully conversant with the Budget Management Information System (BMIS) as well as the Financial Management Information System (FMIS).
14.  The project screening process should be reviewed and the list of screened projects should be kept updated. An effective Project Planning and Management System (PPMS) should be developed.
15. An effective Foreign Aid Management Information System (database), student loan should be developed. A clear project implementation policy should also be formulated.
16.  The development priorities as determined by Nepal should match the priorities of donor agencies (fully matched with local needs and requirements). Efforts should be made to undertake negotiations with donors to harmonize and standardize treaties and agreements entered into with them in line with current country laws.
17.  Activity-based education loan budgeting and expenditure accounting should be applied as soon as possible so that the impact of budgeting  loan can be monitored in an effective manner Recommendations.

Education financing of education and loan system in Nepal (07)

Financial Analysis and education loan of Different Universities

Tribhuvan University 
The annual total expenditure of the TU was declining except in 2003/04 during the period from 1999/00 to 2004/05 and reached to Rs 1,986 million in 2004/05 from Rs 2,215.1 million in 1999/00. This is the result of liberalization policy adopted in the higher educational degrees. Under the decentralization policy, adopted since 2000/01, most of the technical campuses, four TU owned research centers and some management campuses and technical institutes were decentralized. They are given block grant from the university. Both academic and financial decentralizations have been done to these campuses / research centers. That’s why; financial details of these campuses/ research centers are not found in the central offices of the university since 2000/01. The annual total expenditure of foreign grants/funds/assistance programmes / projects of the TU had been declining drastically during the period from1999/00 to 2004/05. This indicates the dependency on foreign fund for higher educational degrees development has been declined remarkably.

A largest share of budget of TU goes to Central Office and second largest share to Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, which cover highest number of TU owned Campuses. The least share goes to Institute of Law, which has few of number of TU owned campuses only. In technical side, the Institute of Medicine demands highest annual total expenditure and education loan. 

The percentage distribution of six yearly averages of expenditures between capital and operational are 16 percent and 84 percent respectively. Operational expenditure is more than five times of capital expenditure.

 
Management is the highest income earning faculty. Its income covered nearly 19 percent of the total expenditure in 2004/05. Education and Humanities and Social Sciences were the second (10.1 percent) and third (9.5 percent) highest income contributing faculties. Forestry was the least (3.8 percent) income generating institute. Thus, their own income generating capacities of these institutes/faculties were very low.  

Before decentralization of technical institutes and research centres, capital expenditures of institutes/research centres except medicine were around 1 percent as of other institutes and faculties. The capital expenditure of medicine was around 5 percent. Medicine was the highest income generating institute, which earned 24.6 percent of the total expenditure. Research centres were the least income generating. The average income generated by these centres was only 1.6 percent. After decentralization, the average percentage of their own income to the total expenditure was 16.3 percent during the period. It was 18.8 percent only in 2000/01 and then it was stable to 16 percent. Even after decentralization, there was no significant change found in the income generation of these institutes /research centres. 

So far central departments of general faculties/Institutes under the Tribhuvan University are concerned; average annual expenditure coverage by income of central departments of science and technology was the highest, i.e., 20.5 percent, which had been lifted up by the highest average annual expenditure coverage by incomes of central departments of M. Tech.(97.1 percent) and Computer (72.3 percent). Similarly, the lowest coverage was 3.2 percent of central department of education. That of central department of management was the modest one (14.2 percent).

Pokhara University
Pokhara University was also heavily dependent on the government grant and donation, which covered 55.9 percent of the total income/total expenditure in 2003/04. This University has only 3 university owned campuses and rests 23 are the privately operated affiliated campuses in 2005/06. On the expenditure side, operating expenses including expenditure on employee’s cost income in 2001/02 to 68.4 percent in 2003/04. 

Education financing of education and loan system in Nepal (06)

Universities in Nepal where found education as a discipline

Tribhuvan University
Mahendra Sanskrit University
Kathmandu University
Purbanchal University
Pokhara University
Siddhartha University    

Tribhuvan university
Tribhuvan University (TU) is named after the late King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah Dev. It was founded in compliance with the Tribhuvan University Act, 1959. The university stands as a national institute of higher educational degrees. The initial objectives of Tribhuvan University include preservation and development of historical and cultural heritage of Nepal and promotion of research. Tribhuvan University at present offers proficiency certificate, Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral (Ph.D.) programs. The university runs 61 campuses of its own and has 222 private campuses affiliated to it. Tribhuvan University consists of four faculties, five technical institutes and four research centres as follows:

*It has four faculties:

• Management
• Humanities and Social Science
• Education 
• Law

* It has five Technical Institutes-

• Medicine
• Engineering
• Forestry
• Agriculture and Animal Science
• Science and Technology

* It has four Research Centres-

• Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS)
• Centre for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA)
• Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development (CERID)
• Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST)

TU has institutional linkage with more than 113 universities and online university institutes around the world. His Majesty King is the Chancellor of the University. The Pro-Chancellor is the Minister for Education. The Vice-chancellor is the principal administrator of the University. T.U. caters for well over 142,924 (including Ph.D.) students through approximately 5,967 Teaching, 2,189 Administrative, 2153 Technical and 2720 Utility staff. The central office of T.U. is at Kirtipur, Kathmandu.

Tribhuvan University provides a two-year educational degrees proficiency certificate, two-year bachelor's degrees, two-year master's degrees, and doctoral programs in various institutes. Thirty-six privately run liberal arts and commercial colleges offer certificate courses accepted by the university.

1. B Ed
2. I.Ed

Purbanchal University
Purbanchal University has Faculty of Education. The Faculty of Education at Purbanchal University was founded in 1998. The subject taught include Education. The Faculty offers Bachelors & Masters educational Degree programs through its constituent and affiliated colleges. Purbanchal University (PU) was established in 1995 with aims to develop higher educational degrees in the country in a decentralized manner and to expand the opportunities of higher educational degrees. The Prime Minister is the Chancellor of the University and the Pro-Chancellor is the Minister for Education. The Vice Chancellor is the principal administrator of the University. The Central Office of the University is located in Biratnagar, Morang district, Eastern Development Region.

Main objectives >>

* To run educational institutes of higher educational degrees in general, occupational and technical areas.
* To increase the quality of higher educational degrees by creating an environment of competitiveness in the university.
* To develop the university as a healthy educational degree serving institute of the country.
* To develop institutes of higher education by mobilizing local resources particularly the human and educational resources.

Focused Academic Activities >>

Activities Description:
Continuing Education Need based short courses and training from farmer to high professional level.Poly techniques Skill endowment to unemployed educated youth for self employment generation.Undergraduate Educational degrees New and innovative career-oriented academic programmes. Master and Ph.D Research and application based educational degrees to generate knowledge for promotion of the area of academic excellence. Research and studies focused on regional problems and promotion of regional resources for socio-economic development and environment conservation.

List of Faculties and Subject Committees >>

a)    Science and Technology
b)    Management
c)    Humanities
d)    Education and Law

 * Education
o Bachelor of Education, 3 yrs
o Bachelor of Education 1 yrs
o Bachelor of Education, 1 yrs (Distant Learning).

Kathmandu University
The Kathmandu University is an independent, non-profit, non-government public institution. It is an institution of higher learning dedicated to maintain high standards of academic excellence.Kathmandu University was established by an Act of Parliament on November 1991. It started functioning from December 11, 1991.

It provides the degrees is given below-

• Diploma Education
• M phil Education
• Masters in Education
• Phd Education

Mission
The Kathmandu University has the mission to:
* promote all- round development of students' abilities and personalities.
* develop an awareness of the role of science and its application in the understanding of problems of contemporary society.
* extend and disseminate knowledge and encourage its application on educational degrees.
* develop a community of scholars, students and staff in which understanding and wisdom can grow and flourish.
 

Different subject committees under the Faculty Board recommend the curriculum for different programs and review them periodically.

•         School of Science
•         School of Management
•         School of Arts
•         School of Engineering
•         School of Medical Sciences

School of Education:
This School currently offers M.Phil. and Ph.D. programs. The School also offers short-term coursed in teacher educational degrees to prepare teachers and headmasters fro primary educational degrees and secondary level educational degrees. The School is also collaborating in offering Post-graduate Diploma in Educational degree program.

Mahendra Sanskrit University
Mahendra Sanskrit University (MSU) was established in December 1986. The university offers Intermediate (Uttar Madhyama), Bachelor's (Shastri), Bachelor of Education, Master's (Acharya) and Doctoral courses in classical and modern subjects. It also offers intermediate in Ayurveda and condensed courses for Ayurvedacharya. The university has 12 constituent and 13 affiliated Vidhyapithas (campuses) situated in different parts of the country. Inspired by the long unbroken tradition of Sanskrit in Nepal, the university was established for the following purposes:

* To fulfil the need for an autonomous institution for teaching/learning activities and research of        Sanskrit field at various levels of educational degrees.
* To systematize Sanskrit educational degrees up to the highest level in the Kingdom
* To preserve and promote Sanskrit education degrees  in different sectors of the Nepalese society
* To develop the Kingdom of Nepal into a centre for learning through Sanskrit education degrees.

MSU also offers facilities for educational degrees and non educational degree research works based on Sanskrit. It also organizes training programs on Vedic and Buddhist teaching and Yoga training. His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev is the Chancellor of Mahendra Sanskrit University. The Pro-Chancellor is the Minister for Education. The Vice-chancellor is the Chief Administrator of the University. The central office of the university is located at Beljhundi, Dang, Mid-Western Development Region, Nepal.

Pokhara University
Pokhara University was established in 1996 as a fifth University in the country under the government's policy of adopting a multi-university system in the country with aims to expand the access to higher educational degrees. The Prime Minister is the Chancellor of the University and the Pro-Chancellor is the Minister for Education. The Vice Chancellor is the principal administrator of the university. The central office of the university is located in Pokhara, Kaski district, Western Development Region.

Main Objectives >>

* To increase private participation in higher educational degrees
* To increase the quality of educational degrees
* To expand the opportunity of higher educational degrees in the country
* To supply skilled human resources necessary for national development through educational degrees.
* To make the academic environment free in the university.

Faculty >>
Faculty of Management Studies
Faculty of Science & Technology
Faculty of humanities and Social Science

Siddhartha University
Siddhartha University is the first and the only Buddhist University of Nepal. It is supported by Buddhist Bhikkhus and common Nepalese people undertaking the responsibility for the success of this Buddhist University as well as by the people of Nepal. It thus becomes a matter of pride and prestige of this country. Siddhartha University is already founded in Washington D.C., the capital of the United States of America in 1991.It also provides Educational Degrees as a discipline.
 

Education financing of education and loan system in Nepal (05)

Technical Education and Vocational Training 

Greater access to relevant technical educational degrees and vocational training education is critical for the numerous  youths who leave school with neither an SLC nor marketable skills to obtain jobs available locally and abroad, and subsequently cannot engage in self-employment activities.  The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), established in 1989 under the Technical and Vocational Education Act of 1988, is responsible for managing a limited number of public technical education schools across the country. There are also private technical education schools, operating in affiliation with the The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), but their very high fees limit their access to the relatively wealthier segment of the population.  The The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) recognizes the urgent need to develop The University Grants Commission (UGC), a statutory body established by an act of parliament [Act No 25 (1993)], co-ordinates universities, education loan, student loans, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university allocates and disburses government grants to universities, online universities and higher educational degree serving institutions and takes appropriate steps for the promotion and maintenance of standards of higher educational degrees in Nepal. Cost-effective skill development schemes for the wider population, particularly students from deprived groups and poor backgrounds, and unemployed youths who have little access to the existing technical educational degrees or vocational training education opportunities by offering some education loan, student loan.   

Budget Trends of Nepal

An analysis of the overall education budgets, education loan, student loans, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university  over the past fifteen years shows that allocations to the education sector, particularly to primary educational degrees, have increased significantly in terms of the percentage of GDP as well as total government budget.  The education budget was only 1.4 percent of GDP and 9.6 percent of the total budget in FY1989/90, but it increased to 2.5 percent and 13.0 percent in FY1994/95, 2.5 percent and 14.0 percent in FY1999/00, 3.1 percent and 16.4 percent in FY2001/02, and 3.9 percent and 16.7 percent in FY2005/06, respectively. 

The percentage of government expenditure allocated to educational degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university  in Nepal is relatively high in comparison with other developing countries: it is higher than India (by 3 percent) and Indonesia (6 percent), Sri Lanka (10 percent), Bangladesh (11 percent), or the average for all developing countries (11 percent); however, it is lower than the Philippines (by 19 percent), Thailand (22 percent), and Malaysia (23 percent).During this same fifteen-year period, the Government demonstrated its commitment to providing primary educational degrees for all by making budget allocations to primary education loan, parimary student loan a growing priority.  However, while it is critical to continue increasing the budget for primary education loan, primary student loan to both reach marginalized children and to improve the quality of public school educational degrees, education loan, student loans, education degrees, online degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online university.  the Government is aware it must balance the distribution of limited resources, particularly between the primary and secondary education loan, and various student loan in sub-sectors, as more and more children complete the primary educational degrees cycle and wish to move on to secondary school educational degrees.UNICEF, 2003, The state of the world’s children 2004, UNICEF, New York.  It should be noted, however, that these figures are not necessarily comparable to each other—as they tend to include only the central government budget; state/provincial budgets are not included in some countries’ figures, for instance, India.  The data refer to the most recent year available between 1992 and 2001 for each country.

Financing in education and loan system of Nepal (04)

Though it is difficult to establish the ‘right’ per unit cost of secondary education student, METCON (1999) shows an average expense per student of Rs. 3500 for best performing schools of the sampled schools in School Leaving Examination for the education year 1996/97. Considering inflation, this amount can well be assumed over Rs. 4000 now. For a million education students at the secondary education degree level, Rs.4 billion is required as per this approximate cost. For reasons of infrastructure development and further investment for improving quality of education degrees, education loan, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees,  education degrees, online university degrees this level of expenses is likely to grow by more than the growth rate of enrollment, which stands at 8% at present. Hence, a growth rate of anywhere between 10% to 15% is called for in budgetary allocation at the secondary education degree level. 

So, the proposed annual budgetary allocation will never be able to meet the demand for resources for secondary education degree with an enrollment of over one million students. Keeping the current difficult situation in mind, further resource allocation for education loan, student loan and particularly for secondary educational degree could be a difficult proposition. Hence, despite the ‘moral’ obligation for the state to provide free school level education degree, education loan, student loans resource situation may not permit this particularly in view of the fact that almost 40% of the development budget is now allotted for social sector in the Tenth Plan. There will be even limited possibility of change in budgetary allocation at the regular side because item heads under this represent running expenses for all the sectors like online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university, education loan, student loans. 

It is worth noting that despite the government’s earlier commitment for free secondary education degree and limited provision for the schools to raise the revenues from parents schools are found to have generated significant amount from the parents even in the schools in remote areas (METCON, 1999).

A school with secondary education classes is found to receive on an average Rs. 1.41 million per year of which 55% is from government in the form of grant, 24% from parents in the form of various charges like examination fees etc., education loans, student loans and about 21% from others including rents. Even in the remote areas, parents’ contribution stands at 15%. The contribution of loan of local government units such as Village Development Committees and District Development Committees is very much limited and usually takes the form of capital contribution providing lump sum grant for capital expenses. Considering limited resource generation capacity of these local government units, their contribution cannot be expected to increase considerably. In this context, only other stakeholders who can contribute more are parents only.  In this context, it is worth noting that households, which send their children to both private and public government education schools spend 8 significantly higher amount on private schools. A study has shown that such household spends on an average Rs. 2407 for a student in a public government school while the same household spends as much as Rs. 9000 for a student in a private school (METCON 1999: 58). It reflects the willingness of the parents to pay more if quality educational degree is assured.

Higher Secondary Education

In Nepal, higher secondary education degree (grade 11-12) is currently provided by higher secondary education schools and online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university, online universities. Certification of passing the Higher Secondary Education Examination is considered equivalent to passing the Proficiency Certificate level offered by online universities, education loan, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university.  The Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB), established under the Higher Secondary Education Act 2046 (1989), grants approval for higher secondary schools that meet the specified conditions relating to physical facilities, qualified teachers, adequate number of students, financial provision, etc. The Board also awards certificates to higher secondary education school graduates, develops and revises curriculum and textbook materials, supervises and monitors higher secondary education school programs, conducts examinations and publishes the results, and lastly, recruits technical & professional, and administrative staff.  In the process of transition to the 1-8/9-12 school education system, the Government plans to establish a Secondary Education Board by merging the existing School Level Certificate Examination Board with the HSEB.  Other HSEB functions—such as education loan, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university, curriculum development, supervision, and school approval—will be transferred to the Curriculum Development Center (CDC) and DOE.
In Nepal, there are 533 public higher secondary education schools, and this number is expected to grow gradually in the coming years.  At present, public higher secondary schools are attached to public schools, but in practice, the former operate as private institutions separate from the latter, except that they receive grants from the Government to employ two teachers.  Due to the poor quality of education degree offered by these schools, the HSEB proposes to gradually increase the number of teachers supported by the Government from the current two to five by 2008/09; this will cost an additional $6.3 million for FY2006/07-2008/9. The HSEB also proposes to provide one-time institutional capacity building grants to build one Model School in each of 75 districts.  The total cost of the grants is estimated to be $2.6 million for the next three years.  Furthermore, the HSEB proposes a new scholarship program for girls in 22 remote districts which will cost $6.7 million over the three years (see ESDP I Support Volume II:  Public Expenditure Review for the Education Sector for more detailed cost estimates).  

 
The World Bank is currently in the process of approving a $79.6 million Higher Education Project (consisting of $60 million from IDA, $19.36 million from communities, and $0.25 million from the Government).  The Project will allocate $16 million to support higher secondary education loan and will provide basic grants at the rate of Rs. 10,000 ($135) per graduate to all existing higher secondary schools meeting basic accountability requirements.  In addition, all higher secondary schools are eligible to receive matching grants at a ratio, on average, of 1:2 (one unit of community contribution to be matched.

Financing in education and loan system of Nepal (03)

The budgetary allocation for education loan, student loan has increased almost by 7 times in a decade’s time – from Rs.2079 million in 1990/91 to Rs.14073 million in 2001/02. The share of secondary education loan, student loan has shown consistent increase over all these years – from 14% in 1990/91 to almost 25% in 2001/02. The share of primary education level student loan, education loan has also marginally increased. It shows the importance of secondary education degree loan due to its gradual expansion as a result of improvement in the access and growing pressure from the primary education level pass-outs. Despite the emergence of private sector as a major service provider in the education loan sector, this pressure is likely to continue for some time due to increasing primary level pass-outs and enrollment rate – that is to say fewer drop outs. 

The resource allocation by MTEF shows that about 27% of total regular expenditure on educational degrees, education loan, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university  sector will be for secondary educational degree, and in case of development expenditure, such proportion will be about 6%. Thus of the total budget on the educational degree sector, about 22% is allotted for secondary educational degree. It comes to little more than Rs.3 billion for a year for secondary educational degree.

Available data does not permit to allocate the estimated budget by their sources of finance. Some rough estimate suggests that more than 90% of the budget from the government source, and rest from the foreign assistance meet secondary educational degree. In some years, contribution of foreign assistance in secondary educational degree is quite negligible. In the 1990s, there was a project Secondary Education Development Project funded by DFID/UK and Asian Development Bank. From next July, the HMG/N is planning to launch Secondary Education Development Program (SESP) with loan 7 assistance from Asian Development Bank and grant from DANIDA. Total cost of the project is US$75 Million. It will increase the share of secondary educational degree in the budget allocation of educational loan.

Financing in education and loan system of Nepal (02)

Sources of education financing in Nepal

Over the years, there is a visible shift in the financing pattern in the education loan, student loans,online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees,  education degrees, online university sector. The share of external financing has gradually gone up – from about 6% in early nineties to 27% at the end of the nineties. Looking at the composition of foreign education assistance also, there is a distinct trend of increasing share of grant assistance, which has reached to 56% in 1999/2000.

School Finance 

A 2005 study of community  schools funded education loan and student loan by the World Bank confirmed that the major source of funding for the operation of community schools education in Nepal is government grants, education loan, student loans. Most of the grants (about 97%) , student loans for education come from the central government while small amounts (about 3%) come from local government.  The grants, education loans may be remarked for teachers’ salaries, free textbooks for primary level students, and scholarships, education loan, student loans,online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees,  education degrees, online university degrees. There are also block grants, which may be spent according to the decisions of the SMCs and based on the SIP. A major category of the block grant system, student loans, education loans is the SIP grant provided to schools for implementing  school education improvement plans. It is allocated per student, subject to variation by geographical region. There is also the Performance grant, a reward grant based on performance indicators, education loans and student loans which encourages schools to raise their standards. There are also General block grants for administrative costs, such as the salaries and allowances of non-teaching staff.


Figure 3-1 illustrates the various school grants available.

There is more than one path to a SLC.  In addition to the regular students, there are exempted student and compartmentalized exams. In 2002, there were 170,000 regular, 60,000 exempted, and 74,000 compartmentalized exam takers (total 305,082).  Passes were 54,630, 3,801, and 38,500 respectively (total 96,930) yielding an overall pass rate of 31.7 percent.    Non-government sources include the school’s own resources which basically amount to the  fees  paid by  parents to  the school education. These can include   school fees, admission fees, examination fees, and sports fees. The Education Act Seventh Amendment states that no fees should be charged until after the primary level. At the lower secondary and secondary levels education, free education loan, various student loans is also mandatory  for girls, Dali children,  and children from families living below the poverty line. All other students  pay fees.

 
Some schools receive rental income, education loans ans student loans from school property while others conduct fund-raising activities to supplement the grants received. One such fund-raising activity is a  religious ceremony where a religious leader is invited to preside over a religious event; the participants donate money for attending it. The other sources are community contributions and miscellaneous sources. Table 3-9  below shows the percentage of revenue  from the different sources by level of education degrees:   primary level education receives 88 percent of  its revenue from central and local government grants financing of education,  lower secondary level, 72 percent secondary level education,  65 percent and  higher secondary education level, 57 percent.

Average Revenues of Selected Schools in 2004/05 (%).The findings in the Technical Review of School Educational degrees  were close to the above findings and showed that 84 percent of  school education loan, student loans funding sources came from the central government through the District Education Office in the fiscal year 2004/05 compared to 86 percent in  two trimesters in the fiscal year 2005/06.

So far as secondary educational degree or these level education is concerned, more than 90% of government expenses are borne by its own internal resources only. However, in view of high growth rate of enrollment of 8% at the secondary level, and also due to the need for higher investment level for improving quality of educational degrees, there is a need for increasing the government expenditure on secondary education loan, student loans, education degrees. This also calls for greater involvement of donor communities at the secondary level of education .

Financing in education and loan system of Nepal (01)

Educational Structure in Nepal

Modern education development began in Nepal in 1959, with the dawn of democratic government. Before that, educational degrees had been the exclusive prerogative of the ruling elite, while the rest of the population remained largely illiterate. At the start of the modern era, educational degree was available only to the sons of the aristocracy. There were eleven secondary schools education in the country, and the literacy rate was below 1 percent. Girls rarely received formal education as well as education loan, student loans, online masters degrees, online colleges degrees, online degrees, education degrees, online university degrees.

The goal of primary education is to teach children reading, writing, and arithmetic. Secondary online degree stresses character formation to prepare students to enter higher educational degrees on online universities. The objective of educational degrees, education loans, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university is to produce the personnel required for national development.

Educational degree, education loan, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university in Nepal is structured as school educational degrees and higher educational degrees. School educational degrees, education degrees, education loan, and student loans, includes primary level of grades 1–5, lower secondary education and secondary levels education of grades 6–8 and 9–10 respectively. Pre-primary level of educational degree is available in some areas. Six years old is the prescribed age for admission into grade one. A national level School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination is conducted at the end of grade 10.

Grades 11 and 12 are considered as higher secondary educational degree level. Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) supervises higher secondary schools which are mostly under private management. Higher educational degrees consist of bachelor, masters, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees,  education degrees, online university degrees PhD levels and as well as education loan, student loans. Depending upon the stream and subject, bachelor’s level, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university degrees may be of three to five years' duration. The duration of master’s level, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university is generally two years. Some online universities, online colleges offer programs like online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university, M Phil and post-graduate diplomas.

Administration of Educational Degrees

The Ministry of Education is responsible for the administration and supervision of school-level educational degrees, education loan, student loans. Tribhuvan University controls higher educational degrees. The Ministry has three divisions: general administration, educational administration, and the program and planning section, each headed by joint secretaries.

Under the Ministry of Education, there are five regional directorates and seventy-five district education offices with which some four hundred school supervisors are affiliated. The schools are controlled by management committees.
School types of Nepal:

Legally, there are two types of school in the country: 

1. Community 
2. Institutional

Community schools receive regular government grants whereas institutional schools are funded by school's own or other non-governmental sources such as education loan, student loans. Institutional schools are organized either as a non-profit trust or as a company. However, in practical terms, schools are mainly of two types: public (community) and private (institutional).

A third type of school is the kind run by the local people enthusiastic toward having a school in their locality. They do not receive regular government grants and most of them do not have any other sustainable financial source- education loan, student loan. Supported and managed and can be thus identified as the real community schools.

Except one, all online universities/academies are publicly managed and are supported by education loan fund. However, online universities, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees, education degrees, online university degrees also provide affiliation to online colleges. Two academies of higher educational degrees, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees,  education degrees, online university, education loan, student loans are single online college institutes whereas other online universities have constituent and affiliated online colleges across the country.

Education Financing in Nepal

In 2005/06, Education loan absorbed 16.7 percent (US$ 287.2 million) of the national budget, a portion of the district block grant set aside for social services (a share of about US$ 85.6 million).  According to the Nepal Living Standards Survey, education loan, student loans consumes an aggregated 2.8 percent of household expenditure.  Using these education loans, student loans figures, households spend an estimated US$ 32 each, or about US$ 110 million aggregated on education loan, student loans, online masters degree, online colleges, online degrees,  education degrees, online university degrees, education loan-related expenses.