[{"bbox": [96, 178, 1134, 260], "category": "Text", "text": "Nepal's progress in education has experienced a severe shock with the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased pre-existing disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes. An intensive corrective response over the next years will be necessary to recover the learning losses."}, {"bbox": [96, 284, 1134, 419], "category": "Text", "text": "The Government of Nepal has worked in close coordination with development partners from 2020 to 2022 to develop the School Education Sector plan (SESP), which covers 2021 to 2030. The SESP differs from previous school sector plans in that it is designed in line with the new federal structure of governance for the Education system in Nepal, which has devolved many responsibilities for school education to local governments. The SESP is funded jointly by the Government of Nepal and donors covering the whole school sector education in Nepal."}, {"bbox": [96, 443, 1134, 577], "category": "Text", "text": "This action supports the SESP and has been jointly programmed with the government and development partners, in particular with UNICEF and Finland focusing on SDG (and SESP) targets such as quality, gender equity and inclusive education. It's aligned to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). This action foresees support for 4 years, including the transitional year. The potential EU support to the 2 years following these will be assessed after the Mid Term evaluation of the EU Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2021-2027."}, {"bbox": [96, 602, 1134, 658], "category": "Text", "text": "In line with the vision of the SESP, the overall objective of the EU action will contribute to a well-educated and skilled society in Nepal which is able to play an active role in the social and economic development of the country."}, {"bbox": [96, 693, 660, 722], "category": "Text", "text": "The action will support three specific objectives of the SESP:"}, {"bbox": [100, 733, 1134, 788], "category": "List-item", "text": "1. improve equitable and inclusive access to education for all children, especially those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, children from marginalised groups and children with disabilities"}, {"bbox": [100, 787, 1134, 838], "category": "List-item", "text": "2. improve the quality and relevance of free basic and secondary education and ensure minimum learning achievements of each child"}, {"bbox": [100, 839, 1134, 894], "category": "List-item", "text": "3. strengthen the local system delivery capacity by promoting good governance, intergovernmental coordination and collaboration and by developing institutional capacity at local level"}, {"bbox": [96, 919, 1134, 1000], "category": "Text", "text": "The main expected results will be: i) improved education enrolment and completion of all children; ii) reduction of disparities in learning outcomes; iii) improved teaching quality and student learning achievements and iv) improved capacities of local governments in implementation of the SESP."}, {"bbox": [96, 1025, 1134, 1130], "category": "Text", "text": "While the action will support the nation-wide education system through the budget support modality, the complementary measures will focus on the three provinces with lowest learning outcomes so far (Karnali, Sudurpashchim and Madhesh), and also provide an opportunity to increase visibility through 'EU-supported schools'."}, {"bbox": [85, 1199, 323, 1231], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 1264, 250, 1293], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1. Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 1311, 1134, 1392], "category": "Text", "text": "Nepal is a Least Developed Country (LDC) located in the Himalayas, endowed with an extremely diverse geography, climate, population and very biodiverse. It is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, ranking 4th in terms of climate risk according to the 2021 Global Climate Risk Index."}, {"bbox": [96, 1402, 1134, 1484], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite the great progress that Nepal has achieved in most development indicators at national level, the rate of development is geographically unequal. The new federal structure promulgated in the 2015 Constitution presented an opportunity to tackle the disparities and create an enabling environment for economic growth."}, {"bbox": [96, 1494, 1134, 1549], "category": "Text", "text": "Nepal aspires to graduate from LDC by December 2026, however regional disparities continued increasing and could put the sustainability of the graduation at risk."}, {"bbox": [96, 1559, 1134, 1615], "category": "Text", "text": "As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy shrank in 2020 by 1.9%, while showing modest recovery in 2021 with a growth projected above 3% in 2022."}, {"bbox": [1038, 1680, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 26"}]