Primary and secondary education

Primary education

In Nepal, primary education is for pupils aged 5 to 12.

• Duration : 8 years (grade I-grade VIII).
• Content: primary education.

Please note: education is compulsory from the age of 4, starting the year before primary education. This year is part of pre-school education. Pre-school education is called ‘early childhood education and pre-primary education (ECED/PPE)’ in Nepal. The ECED/PPE year and primary education together are called ‘basic education’.

Secondary education

Secondary education lasts 4 years and is divided into 2 stages:

• lower secondary education, concluded with exams for a Certificate – Secondary Educaton Examination, Grade-10;
• upper secondary education, concluded with exams for a Migration Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XI & XII).

Please note: before 2017, the lower and upper secondary education diplomas were named differently, namely:

• Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination (lower secondary education);
• Migration Certificate – Higher Secondary Education Board Examinations (upper secondary education).

The Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade-10 is the lower secondary education diploma. Students take their exams via the National Examinations Board (NEB).

• Duration: 2 years (grade IX-grade X).
• Content: 8 exam subjects, of which the following are compulsory:
  • English;
  • Nepali;
  • mathematics;
  • science;
  • social studies;
  • health, population and environmental education.
• Function of the diploma: access to upper secondary education or secondary vocational education.
• Diploma: Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade-10, issued by the NEB. Please note: before 2017, this diploma was called: Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination.

Before 2017, students completed lower secondary education with exams for a Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination. The diploma was also referred to as the School Leaving Certificate or SLC. Students took their exams via the Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE).

• Duration: 2 years (grade IX- grade X).
• Content: for the most part, the same as the Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade-10 curriculum.
• Diploma: Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination, issued by the OCE. Please note: this diploma is now called: Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade-10.

Upper secondary education is for students aged 15 to 18. At the end of upper secondary education, students took exams for a Migration Certificate - School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XI & XII) up until 2021. Students take the exams via the National Examinations Board (NEB).

• Duration: 2 years (grade XI-grade XII).
• Content: in the old curriculum, students often took 10 exam subjects in grade XI and grade XII combined. These 10 subjects consisted of a combination of 2 compulsory subjects and 4 stream subjects. Students often took 1 compulsory subject and 4 stream subjects in one year and 2 compulsory subjects and 3 stream subjects in the other year. It did not matter in which year which combination of subjects was taken. The compulsory subjects were English and Nepali ('compulsory English' and 'compulsory Nepali'). In addition, students took 4 exam subjects for one of the following streams:
  • education: subjects concerning education, pedagogy and teaching;
  • humanities: subjects like geography, history, sociology and languages;
  • law: subjects concerning aspects of law;
  • management: subjects like accountancy, business studies, hotel management and marketing;
  • science: subjects like biology, chemistry, computer science and physics;
  • technical and vocational: chemistry, mathematics and physics (the study load for these subjects is about half that of these subjects within the science stream) + subjects in civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, plant science or animal science.
    See also Examples of stream subjects.
• Admission requirements: a Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade-10 and extra requirements, such as certain subjects and grades.
• Function of the diploma: access to higher education. Students may also continue on to secondary vocational education.
• Diploma: Migration Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XI & XII), issued by the NEB. Please note: before 2017, the upper secondary education diploma was called: Migration Certificate – Higher Secondary Education Board Examinations.

Upper secondary education is for students aged 15 to 18. At the end of upper secondary education, students take exams for a Migration Certificate - School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XII) as of 2022. Students take the exams via the National Examinations Board (NEB).

• Duration: 2 years (grade XI-grade XII).
• Content: students take at least 5 exam subjects. Of these, 3 subjects are compulsory: Compulsory English, Compulsory Nepali, and Compulsory Social Studies & Life Skills or Compulsory Mathematics. In addition, students take exams in at least 3 electives. There are no longer any streams, except for the technical and vocational stream. Examples of electives include Accounting, Economics, Computer Science, Finance, Business Mathematics, Business Studies, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Hotel Management, Tourism and Mountaineering Studies, Marketing, Psychology, Sociology, and English.
• Admission requirements: a Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade 10, plus additional requirements, such as certain subjects and grades.
• Function of the diploma: access to higher education. Students may also continue on to secondary vocational education.
• Diploma: Migration Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XII), issued by the NEB.

Instead of the general upper secondary education, students can opt for the vocational upper secondary education, namely the technical and vocational stream.

• Duration: 2 years (grade XI-grade XII).
• Content: students take 3 compulsory subjects in grade XI and/or grade XII (Compulsory English, Compulsory Nepali and Social Studies), 3 Academic Subjects (Mathematics, Chemistry en Physics) and 4 Disciplinary Subjects of one of the following streams:
  - animal science;
  - civil engineering;
  - computer engineering;
  - electrical engineering; and
  - plant science.
  See also examples of stream subjects.
• Admission requirements: a Certificate – Secondary Education Examination, Grade-10 and extra requirements, such as certain subjects and grades.
• Function of the diploma: access to employment and higher education.
• Diploma: Migration Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XII), issued by the NEB.
  

Before 2017, students completed upper secondary education with exams for a Migration Certificate – Higher Secondary Education Board Examinations. They did their exams via the Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB). From 2016 onwards, the NEB gradually took over from the HSEB.

• Duration: 2 years (grade XI- grade XII).
• Content: the same as the old curriculum from the Migration Certificate Examination (grade XI & XII).
• Diploma: Migration Certificate – Higher Secondary Education Board Examinations, issued by the HSEB. Please note: currently, the upper secondary education diploma is called: Migration Certificate – School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XI & XII).