NEPAL: Spending increase to benefit university women

Nepal's government this month agreed a new annual education budget with large increases to help more women and poorer students gain a university education, as part of its effort to revamp and reform higher education.

In an indication of its priorities, the education budget now amounts to just over 17% of the country's entire government spending - a high proportion compared to many other developing countries, and an increase of 24.5% on education spending over the previous year.

Around 24% of Nepal's education budget is provided by international donors as aid, most of it to increase the school enrolment rate.

As part of the country's major social, political and economic transformation after the abolition of the monarchy and elections in 2008, around 5% to 7% of the education budget will go towards paying scholarships for women at universities. Problems also occur earlier, with girls in remote areas unable to get to school and the budget will increase scholarships for girls.

The government will also provide monetary incentives to all enrolled students to prevent them dropping out before completing their studies, and scholarship programmes for students from poor, minority and marginalised communities to access higher education.

Students are being told that if they receive a grant at higher secondary level and achieve good marks they will have a greater possibility of receiving university grants, as a way of encouraging students from marginalised communities to continue to university.

Student Manju Lamsal from the Syangja district, some 230 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu, received funding at higher secondary and is working hard to secure a scholarship at the university level. However she said the scholarships were not even sufficient to cover all tuition fees at university.

"Many families cannot afford to help with buying books, travel, daily pocket money, tuition fees and exam fees. Compared with that expenditure, the amount of the scholarships is not so encouraging," said Lamsal.

The government has said it is planning to increase scholarship funds gradually.

"The [budget] increment still largely covers [staff] pay and other infrastructure-related expenditure. We have upped scholarships for both girls and boys. We are spending a huge chunk of the budget that comes from internal sources and from [aid] donations to build infrastructure," Higher Secondary Education Board Member-Secretary Bhim Lal Gurung told University World News.

"We have yet to finalise the modalities of scholarship to be provided to the target sections of society," Gurung added.

Another ambitious project is the introduction of new subjects in the higher education sector. "We have emphasised vocational courses to help address the unemployment problem," said Gurung.

Large numbers of young Nepalis have been leaving the country to seek blue-collar jobs in the Gulf and Malaysia, owing to lack of opportunities at home, with some 2.5 million Nepalis working in the Gulf alone.

Ram Chandra Pandey, chief of the curriculum development department, said the new subjects include agriculture, music, applied beauty, horticulture, Sanskrit and fine arts. A feasibility study for vocational education in poultry, dairy and social work is underway, said Pandey.