The period of the Millennium Development Goals until 2015 focused strongly on universal primary education, whereas the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) until 2030 expand the arena to include secondary education and lifelong learning opportunities.

It is clear why this is so – most developing countries have now achieved near universal primary education, and need to ensure that students can complete school education and benefit from the social and economic benefits that arise from it.

In Nepal, a country where 37% of girls are married before the age of 18, support to secondary education will help girls complete the full school cycle and derive the array of socio-economic returns from it, such as delay in marriage, better health, greater economic empowerment, higher productivity, and so on.

As far back as 2002, a World Bank study suggested that one additional school year can increase a woman’s earnings by 10% to 20 percent.