Primary and secondary education

Primary education

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

• Duration i : 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 take exams for a Migration Certificate - School Leaving Certificate Examination (Grade XI & XII). Students take the exams via the National Examinations Board (NEB).

• Duration: 2 years (grade XI-grade XII).
• Content: a new curriculum has been in place since the 2020-2021 school year. Not enough is known about it yet. In 2022, the first students will receive the diploma with the new curriculum. In the old curriculum, students took at least 5 exam subjects. The subject English (‘compulsory English’) was compulsory; the subject Nepali (‘compulsory Nepali') was compulsory for either the 1st year (grade XI) or the 2nd year (grade XII). In addition, students took at least 3 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.

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).