Kathmandu, November 2

Ministry of Education is reportedly all set to implement School Sector Development Plan from this fiscal to continue its efforts to ensure equitable access to quality education for all.

This programme has been developed for first five years (2016-2021) of the seven-year plan (2016-2023) by following the target set by Sustainable Development Goals and Education for All Action plan to ensure every citizen’s right to education.

Education Minister Dhaniram Paudel said the ministry is was all set to implement the SSDP from the current fiscal after it was endorsed by the Cabinet on October 24.

He said, “We have prepared this SSDP by evaluating past experiences, international practices, federal structure of the country, and Post Disaster Need Assessment and Post Disaster Recovery Framework after the earthquakes last year.”

According to MoE, SSDP’s vision is to contribute to the development of self-sustainable, competitive, innovative and value-oriented citizens for the socioeconomic transformation of the nation; its mission is to produce the much needed human resources to elevate Nepal’s status from a Least Developed Country by 2022 and to reach the status of a middle-income country by 2030.

Similarly, it is also expected to contribute to socioeconomic development and reduce disparities in the country through the continuous and inclusive development of its human resources capacity by facilitating all citizens with opportunities to become functionally literate, numerate and to develop the basic life skills and knowledge required to enjoy a productive life, taking into account the diversity of context and needs and with regards to the forthcoming federalization of the country.

SSDP mainly focuses on five dimensions namely equity, quality, efficiency, governance and management and resilience. It will also work for teacher professional development and management; governance and management; institutional capacity development, monitoring and evaluation; examination and assessment; Information and Communication Technology in Education, Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery; Health and Nutrition and others.

SSDP programme governance and implementation arrangements will be undertaken through the two-pronged strategy of the development of a road map for restructuring and realigning MoE in relation to the transition to the federal system and strengthening existing implementation arrangements through improved programme management, technical oversight and coordination.

The SSDP expenditure (excluding a part of construction activities)is extimated at $ 10.66 billion for the entire seven years, $ 6.5 billion for the five years and $ 3.3 billion for the first year.

Capital costs account for 9.1 per cent for the first three and five years and tapers thereafter.