We reap what we sow
The seed of education reform must be sought in early childhood education
- English
- नेपाली
The Sanskrit saying “Yatha bijam tatha phalam” ("We reap what we sow") remains profoundly relevant in understanding the current reality of Nepal’s public education system. If the seed is good, the fruit will also be good. The same principle applies to education. Yet, debates on education reform in Nepal remain largely confined to learning outcomes at basic and secondary levels, teacher management, curriculum revision or university reform. The foundational role of early childhood education has yet to enter the center of public and political discourse.
Many of the problems seen in public education become visible in Grade 3 with low attainment of literacy and numeracy proficiency levels followed at Grade 8 exams or during the Secondary Education Examination (SEE). However, their roots begin much earlier from a child’s very first experience with pre-primary education which is a key stage of education that ensures every child is ready to learn and achieve their full potential at later stages of the education cycle. This is precisely why the conversation on education reform should begin not from the upper grades, but from early childhood education.
Various education laws and policy frameworks in Nepal recognize early childhood education as essential for children aged four years (48 to 60 months) to ensure they are ready to learn The Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum aims to support children’s holistic development, including physical, social, emotional and cognitive growth, while laying the foundation for future learning. However, there remains a significant gap between policy intent and practical implementation on the ground.
Where are the key gaps?
Field experience from across the country reveals a lack of consistency regarding school enrollment age. In some places, children are enrolled in school (nursery or early childhood classes) before the age of three; elsewhere at four; and in some cases, children are admitted to Grade 1 even before reaching the age of five.
There are also cases where children as old as 14, because they were unfamiliar with basic letters, have been placed in early childhood development classes. According to official data, while the gross enrollment rate for ECE stands at 101 per cent, the net enrollment rate for four-year-olds is only 70.2 per cent, indicating that a substantial number of underage and overage children are enrolled in early childhood education programs (Center for Education and Human Resource Development, 2025).
According to the School Readiness Study (2024) conducted by the Education Review Office, a large majority of community schools (84 per cent) place children younger and older than the prescribed age in the same classroom. This creates a classroom environment with children at vastly different developmental stages. Some may be linguistically prepared, while others may still feel socially insecure.
Though mixed-age classrooms are not inherently ineffective, and there are pedagogical models that can support developmental gains in such settings, Nepal’s Early Childhood Development and Education curriculum has been designed primarily with four-year-old children in mind. As such, early childhood teachers are generally not trained to manage such age diversity.
Education Regulations state that in the case of children below the age of four, childcare centers should be established to provide physical, mental, and intellectual care and stimulation. Yet, in practice even these very young children are often placed under the responsibility of early childhood teachers in community schools.
Children below the age of four have distinct developmental and caregiving needs. However, this responsibility appears to have been transferred to schools and early childhood teachers without adequate policy discussion or professional training.
A deep-rooted social misconception
A major social misconception has taken root in Nepal: the earlier a child is sent to school, the better.
But early school enrollment and early learning are not the same thing.
This misconception has been reinforced by the expansion of private schools and parental aspirations. Private schools have created highly competitive structures through playgroups, nursery, Lower Kindergarten (LKG) and Upper Kindergarten (UKG) levels. Parents are often drawn to the idea of early letter recognition, early writing, and getting their child “ahead” academically.
At the same time, working parents face the practical necessity of leaving their children in a safe place while they go to work. However, the regulatory framework has yet to fully adapt to these changing social realities.
Current data itself shows that, in practice, contrary to policy provisions, many community schools and local governments have started operating multi-grade early childhood programmes. This places children under the pressure of formal schooling too early, undermining their natural developmental processes and divert attention from helping children be ready to learn when entering basic education.
What must be done now?
Addressing the misconceptions and systemic challenges in early childhood education will not be easy. The first and most important step is to recognize that education reform must begin from early childhood education itself.
For this, the following measures are worth considering:
1. Dialogue and consensus-building
Discussion on the Federal School Education Bill is expected to resume soon. This provides an important opportunity for evidence-based dialogue and consensus among parents, teachers, service providers (private schools, community schools, and childcare centers), and all relevant stakeholders.
Critical questions must be openly discussed: Should early childcare services be integrated into schools? Who should bear the cost? What should be the standard school entry age?
Nepal’s National Early Childhood Development Strategy 2077–2088, developed after broad national consultation, can serve as a starting point for this dialogue. The strategy assigns policy responsibility for early childcare programmes (which are very different to Early Childhood Education centers under the Ministry of Education, Science and technology) to the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.
2. Managing diversity and ensuring policy uniformity
Nepal is a country of enormous diversity, and childcare needs are being met in different ways, sometimes within families and sometimes within communities. However, social transformation and rapid urbanization now demand new models, including community-based, school-based and workplace-based childcare centers.
If we seek equitable learning outcomes in education, a uniform policy on school entry age across federal, provincial, and local levels is indispensable, regardless of the type of school.
There is a clear policy, which should be followed by all stakeholders, to enroll children to early childhood education at the age of four years (48 months) and then in Grade 1 after completing five years (60 months). This requires widespread public awareness campaigns, along with regulation and facilitation by all three levels of government.
3. Dignity and professionalism for early childhood service providers
Ninety per cent of a child’s brain development takes place by the age of five.
This makes it essential that all professionals working with children in this age group are skilled, competent and understand the developmental needs of children across these ages.
Yet in our society, caregivers such as ayas, assistants and early childhood teachers are often treated as low-status workers. It is urgent to make this profession more attractive by ensuring proper training, minimum qualification standards, and fair remuneration.
4. Parental empowerment and participation
It goes without saying that the primary responsibility toward children lies with parents.
Since the home environment plays an indispensable role in child development, parents need knowledge and skills related to early stimulation and responsive caregiving.
This empowerment should begin from pregnancy itself through health institutions and should continue in a structured way via schools.
Schools must remember that early childhood development can only be effective through active collaboration and partnership with parents.
5. A child-centered approach
Whether it is early childcare or early childhood education, both must remain centered on children’s holistic development.
Parents naturally want the best for their children, but not all parents may have adequate knowledge or capacity regarding developmental stages and children’s varying needs.
Therefore, the government must ensure children’s constitutional right to holistic development through appropriate policies and services.
Accepting the underlying truth of “Yatha bijam tatha phalam”, placing early childhood education at the center of Nepal’s education reform agenda is not merely a present need, but a necessity to ensure a bright and prosperous future for Nepal.
This requires coordination within the education sector but also across health, women and children, and federal affairs sectors, along with broader stakeholder collaboration.
To remove the ongoing confusion around school entry age, early childcare and early childhood education should be clearly recognized as two distinct service areas addressing profoundly different needs across a child’s development stages in the early years of life.
The time has now come for Nepal’s education reform debate to begin from the early years - a strong house is only as solid as its foundation, which for education will always be ECE.
