Kathmandu, December 12:

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) today announced a policy and strategy for Non-Formal Education (NFE).

It intends to provide education to children not enrolled in schools through organised educational activities for their personal development.

The 16-point policy aims to provide academic and practical education, life skills and information for all age groups and classes, Bunu Shrestha director of NFE said.

“School dropouts as well as adults will be given an opportunity to pursue NFE through the alternate school education, equivalent to formal education,” Shrestha added.

“Lower secondary, secondary and higher secondary education will be provided through open schools,” she added.

The policy intends to make NFE accessible to all by introducing special provisions like community education centres. These will be taken as a base for proper coordination and operation. A decentralised method will be adopted for implementation, supervision and evaluation of NFE.

“The government will look after coordination, partnership and network with organisations to bring together resources and utilise them for NFE. Inclusive education polices will be adopted to ensure quality,” Bala Ram Paudel, secretary of MoES, said.

It will maintain a database of the organisations that provide NFE and conduct training, research, and self-evaluation to strengthen the programme and enhance skills, Paudel added. The policy states that the government, non-government and private organisations will be mobilised to attain the goal ‘Education for All’.