KATHMANDU: Community schools across Nepal are experiencing a significant drop in Grade 11 enrollment.
Principals attribute the declining enrolment rate to different factors like insufficient government funding, a perceived lack of dedication among faculty, and a shortage of subject-specific teachers, among others
Even prestigious community schools in Kathmandu, such as Padmodaya, Bijaya Smarak, Padmakanya, and Madan Smarak, which once boasted overcrowded classrooms, are now seeing a drop in enrolment rates. Principals of these schools, however, are hopeful that student numbers will increase a bit after the results of the grade improvement examinations of the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) are published.
Some schools like Bishwa Niketan in Tripureshwar and Gyanaodaya in Bafal, however, have already started regular cases after completing Grade 11 enrolments.
Chandra Kanta Pandey, principal of Pashupati Mitra School in Chabahil, said that Grade 11 enrollment in the school has plummeted from 119 students last year to just 45 this year. “We hope to get a few more students after the grade improvement examination results are published,” he added.
Similarly, Rita Tiwari, principal of Padmakanya School in Dillibazaar, said the school has enrolled less than 100 students so far in Grade 11 compared to 186 last year. Tiwari said the scholarship program of Kathmandu Metropolitan City may be inadvertently exacerbating the situation. “Five of our students received KMC scholarships and chose to study in private schools,” Tiwari explained, highlighting a potential unintended consequence of the initiative.
KMC has been providing scholarships to meritorious students passing the SEE examinations from community schools. Those students have started studying in private schools.
The issue extends beyond the capital. Anusha Dhital, a teacher at Gyan Jyoti Secondary School in Gorkha, attributes the decline in student enrolment in Grade 11 to a ripple effect from lower enrollment in early childhood education. “Students prefer to move to urban areas after their Secondary Education Examination (SEE), leading to a shortage in rural community schools,” Dhital said.
Gyan Jyoti Secondary School has 150 students in Grades 11 and 12.
Than Prasad Basaula of Salyantar Secondary School in Dhading echoes these concerns. He added that the lack of subject-specific teachers for Grades 11 and 12 was creating problems. “As a result, teachers from Grades 9 and 10 are covering higher classes as well,” he said.
Education expert Prof Dr Bal Chandra Luitel pointed to broader demographic shifts as underlying causes behind declining enrolment rates in community schools. “The declining birth rate and increased migration are affecting both community and private schools,” he explained.
Census data shows a steady decrease in population growth rates, from 2.25% in 2001 to 0.92% in 2021.
Dropping childbirth rates will lead to a further decline in school enrolment rates in the future, according to experts like Luitel.
