The literacy rate is simply understood as the overall rate of people who can read, and write, and are from the age group of 15, internationally, as termed by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). However, in the Nepalese Scenario, the Central Bureau of Statistics calculates the literature rate, and the age group above 5 is taken in reference when calculating the rates here. Furthermore, for the census of 1991, the rate was calculated on the basis of the people who knew how to review papers and write only but after that, the term was re-defined and alongside being able to study and write, the definition added that literate people could gain insight as well as perform simple calculations.
What is Nepal’s current rate of literacy?
In 2023, Nepal’s Literacy Rate was 76.2%, and this rate has been slightly rising in recently. As mentioned above, the literacy rate is calculated taking reference of citizens above 5 in the country.
| Province | Overall Literacy Rate | Male | Female |
| Province 1 | 79.7% | 86.1% | 73.6% |
| Province 2 | 63.5% | 72.5% | 54.7% |
| Province 3 | 82.1% | 88.3% | 76% |
| Province 4 | 81.7% | 88.8% | 75.3% |
| Province 5 | 78.1% | 85.2% | 71.7% |
| Province 6 | 76.1% | 83.3% | 69.4% |
| Province 7 | 76.2% | 85.4% | 68.2% |
This information is taken from the National Population and Housing Census 2021, and with this information, it will be seen that the literacy rate is highest in the Bagmati province, which the further the most developed place in the nation. Gandaki Province, Province number 4 is just a percent behind. The lowest of them all is the Madesh Province and the example of Uma Primary School, where the school is made out of bamboo, further falls under this province. The school has half the capacity of the number of students enrolled, and the students there get all wet, during the monsoon.
Is Nepal’s literacy rate rising or falling?
With many people understanding the importance of learning to them as well as their children, the demand for schools and colleges has reached at peak. As per the survey conducted in 2020-2021, there are 36,032 schools all over the country. Further, the schools are categorized based on Community schools operated by the government and institutional schools operated privately, among which 79.5% of schools are community schools and the remaining 21.5% are institutional schools.
| Date | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 | 1216 more schools in a year |
| Available schools | 34,816 | 36032 |
From 2019/20 to 2020/21, 1216 schools increased, as per the governmental report presented in Flash I Report – 2079 (2022/23).
The above information is just about the schools and does not contain information regarding other academic institutions, high schools, universities, or colleges. Now, let’s look into the existing schools in different provinces, and the type of school (governmental/ community or Institutional).
| Province | Total | Community | Institutional | ||
| No. | % | No | Percent | ||
| Province 1 | 7026 | 5510 | 78.40% | 1516 | 21.60% |
| Province 2 | 4669 | 3595 | 77% | 1074 | 23% |
| Province 3 | 6924 | 4875 | 70.40% | 2049 | 29.60% |
| Province 4 | 4135 | 3540 | 85.60% | 595 | 14.40% |
| Province 5 | 5878 | 4650 | 79.10% | 1228 | 20.90% |
| Province 6 | 3243 | 3026 | 93.30% | 217 | 6.70% |
| Province 7 | 4157 | 3463 | 83.30% | 694 | 16.70% |
| Sum | 36032 | 28659 | 79.50% | 7373 | 20.50% |
From this Table, we can analyze that in Province 3, which is the Province with the capital city, there are more institutional schools or private schools and fewer community or governmental schools. Meanwhile, there are more community schools in Sudurpaschim, and Karnali provinces as they are considered the least developed and rural part of the country and hence have fewer private schools.
Comparison between the rates, in 2011 and 2021 (2068 and 2078)
The first data regarding the amount of people, alongside the rate, was taken in 1961 by the Census Bureau. Since then, it has been recorded in every decade. Recently, the 12th National Census was taken in 2078 and the literacy rate was found to be 76.2%. Meanwhile, the 11th National Census was taken a decade back in 2068 and the literacy rate then was 65.9%. Hence, it can be seen that the Literacy rate has grown by 10% which is an indication of a positive hype in the country and the people.
Let’s compare and analyze more with the help of a table.
| Date | overall rate | Male | Female |
| 2068 | 65.90% | 83.60% | 64.40% |
| 2078 | 76.20% | 83.60% | 69.40% |
From this table, it can be seen that alongside the overall rate, the male and the female rates are also provided to us, and we can broadly compare the data with this. Upon simple analysis we can find that the male’s rate is constant, that is, the rate has neither grown nor decreased over the past few years. Meanwhile, the rate of educated Women has risen by 5 %, which demonstrates that with the approach of innovation and technology, society has started supporting girls when it comes to sending them to schools.
Is it good for the country, if the literacy rate of the country continuously grows?
From the beginning of this writing, the message might have been quite clear regarding whether the rise in the literacy rate is good or not. Despite that, from earlier data, we have seen that the literacy rate of the nation has grown by 10% and the literacy rate of women has grown by 5%. So is this good for the country or not?
This is actually a very good rise in the literacy rate as common people were not provided with formal learning back in the days of the Rana regime, and hence they started learning only after democracy in 1951.
Literacy Rates of Neighbouring Country- India
| Date | Overall Rate | Male | Female |
| 2021 | 77.70% | 84.70% | 70.30% |
Being a huge country, India is 22 times bigger than Nepal and has 40 times greater population than that of here. With such a huge population, 77% of it can read, write, and understand basic mathematics in India, while, here, 76.02% of people can do so.
Actual rate of Literacy in terms of education
| People who have completed | Percentage |
| Primary Level (class 1 to 5) | 28.70% |
| lower Secondary Level (class 6 to 8) | 19.90% |
| SLC or equivalent | 9.50% |
| above SLC or equivalent, or higher | 19.50% |
In Nepal, people who can write, study, and review the writings, and solve simple arithmetic problems are considered literate. However, this data provides a clear picture of the actual amount of people who have completed their respective academic levels. Just by being able to review and write, people won’t be able to get to a professional working environment. Nevertheless, they can do some soft skills training and work for any corporation for driving, cooking, and so forth. While with little academic knowledge, other technical skills related training can be taken, which will help them earn quite a good sum of money.
Steps taken by the government encourage people to be admissions to schools
As per the government’s rule, people above the age of 5 are taken in when calculating the literacy of the country. Hence, the government has played quite an active role in providing children with academic qualifications. The government has been spending Rs. 26.52 billion annually to remove the problem of illiteracy from the country. They have further been providing free education up to class 10, free nutritious midday meal is provided for students up to class 5. This has encouraged both the parents and children to continue the child’s learning.
However, just investing money and separating the budget won’t help Nepal (76.2%) to compete with countries like Maldives (97.86%), and Sri Lanka (92%), in terms of the overall educated people. Although for the past few decades, the nation has been doing really well and has increased its literacy rate from 54.1% in 2001 to 65.9% in 2011 and to 76.2% in 2021, it still has a long way to go. For this, along with separating the budget, the government should also come up with a strategic plan and both of them, hand in hand.
Literacy gap between male and female
Although a surface discussion has been done above to talk about the Nepal literacy of men and women, there are still things to discuss. Traditionally, women were not treated the way men were treated, even in terms of getting an education. Currently, there have been quite a lot of improvements, especially in the city areas. Yet, there is a significant difference between the two individuals. Women’s literacy is comparatively very low in the rural areas and the far-western development regions. One needs to know that Women’s education plays a significant role in terms of economy, population control or demise, and educating the upcoming generation. Hence, gender inequality in terms of academic learning can significantly affect the overall enhancement or demise of a country’s literacy rate.
Challenges seen in the process of converting illiterate ones into literate
With more people becoming educated, both the government and the people have felt the importance of education for today’s children. However, it is not easy for people in the far-western, and mid-western regions to understand its importance. Furthermore, they have a lot of households and farm work separated for each of their child, and hence they feel that sending their children to learn would be a waste of time. Now, the challenge here is to go to those villages and persuade those people individually. They would rather send their child to work than to school.
Secondly, sending children to school requires them to buy pens, copies, and other stationaries, hence they would not want to spend the very little money they have on their children, even when the education is completely free.
In rural places like Karnali, Sudurpashchim, and others where there are big rivers, fewer infrastructures, and where academic institutions are far away from one another, it is difficult for people to travel a long distance every day. Hence, most of them don’t complete their primary level of academics because the institutions are far away and parents don’t have time to send and bring the children back home.
Hence, People don’t want to change their habits and behavior and want to live an easy life where everyone is busy working on the farm, in the cattle field, or doing household chores.
Condition in Rautahat, where people are too poor to care
Rautahat is a district that lies in Madhesh Province and one of the schools, named Uma Primary School, is a school where 124 students are enrolled. However, the school is made with bamboo sheds and can only serve 62 students at once. It looks more like a cowshed. In monsoon day, the children there are always wet. Hence, if the government is investing a huge sum of Rs. 26.52 billion yearly, they should be using that sum in schools like these, and motivate the students there to attend.
Insightful Inputs
Since the past few decades, Nepal has been doing quite well when it comes to literacy rate. The government is also supporting the nation on this. However, instead of pouring money into the developed regions or places with existing good education systems, the government should focus on the development of rural areas too. There are 129 countries in the world, and Nepal lies in 111th position when it comes to academics and knowledge sectors. Apart from that, another main factor that has been hampering the literacy rate here is gender inequality. Lastly, only the private sector cannot work on these subject manners, and hence governmental support is equally important for the growth of the literacy rate, and for the wellbeing of the nation.
