Open Schooling Practice in Nepal: An Overview

Abstract

The number of students kept on increasing in open schools since their establishment until the academic session 2011/ 2012 but dramatic decrease appeared in 2012/ 2013. As far as the School Leaving Certifi cate (SLC) result is concerned, in the fi rst four years, the rate of pass percentage in regular cum supplementary examination was satisfactory. However, since 2011/ 12, the result is not so satisfactory. This is the key challenge of open schools in Nepal. Trained human and fi nancial resources, physical infrastructures and use of ICT as a delivery medium are also the challenges of open schools. To face these challenges, some measures can be taken, for example, ensuring clear policy, developing well trained human resources, increasing government's high priority on open schools, setting learner friendly content, managing physical infrastructure and equipping modern technology. This article focuses on current policies, national as well as international practices, challenges and opportunities of the open schools and recommendations for concerned authorities and stakeholders so that they could contribute to improving the open schools further. To prepare this paper, books and journal articles have been reviewed. Moreover, this paper is based on secondary data regarding SLC result and the number of open school students.