Education grant also helps to address post-earthquake schooling needs

May 23, 2015 - Seoul, Republic of Korea – Today the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) approved a US$59.3 million grant for Nepal to increase access and improve the quality of education, particularly for children in pre-primary through grade 8 with a special focus on those from marginalized groups. The grant will support the country’s education sector plan, which covers approximately 7 million students, 200,000 teachers and 28,000 public schools from pre-primary to grade 12.

While the grant for Nepal was prepared before the two recent earthquakes, the government of Nepal has the option to re-allocate the grant funding to address emergency needs in the education sector. It is estimated that the earthquakes destroyed 25,000 classrooms and damaged thousands more affecting close to 1.6 million children.  

“We are thankful for this funding which is crucial to ensure that all Nepali children can learn. After the recent earthquakes, we will be assessing the situation of the education sector and may reallocate the funding from the Global Partnership for Education to where the needs are greatest, such as school reconstruction” said H.E. Chitra Lekha Yadav, Minister of Education of Nepal.

Nepal joined the Global Partnership for Education in 2009 and received a first GPE grant of US$120 million for the period 2010-2014.  Nepal has made important gains in education over the past decade.  According to the Government’s education management information system (EMIS), the primary school completion rate has increased from 58 percent in 2004 to 80 percent in 2014. Important investments in pre-primary education have boosted the primary school gross enrollment rate from 39 percent in 2004 to 77 percent in 2013. However, household surveys indicate that 11 percent of children between 5 and 12 years are not in school.

“The continuing tragedy in Nepal is breaking all our hearts but it is not breaking our collective will to provide quality education for every child. This new funding will support Nepal as it rebuilds schools and strives to continue to deliver its ambitious agenda of improving access and learning,” said Julia Gillard, Board Chair of the Global Partnership for Education.

Nepal is one of the first countries to receive a grant under the new funding model of the Global Partnership, which incentivizes developing countries to improve equity, efficiency and quality in education by linking a proportion of funding to results. The US$59.3 million grant will support the implementation of the School Sector Reform Plan 2009-2016 and its successor. 

“The financing support that the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education approved today for Nepal was planned prior to the earthquakes,” said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education Secretariat.  “This financing will now be able to make a small contribution towards helping Nepal rebuild its education system. Our hope is that all Nepalese children can go back to school quickly.”

Nepal will receive an initial amount of US$41.5 million.  The remaining part of the grant will be based on the achievement of specific results chosen by the government and national partners in the areas of equity, efficiency, and learning outcomes, including the reduction of out-of-school children by 20 percent in 10 of the most disadvantaged districts. The World Bank, a GPE partner, will supervise the implementation of the grant. 

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The Global Partnership for Education mobilizes global and national efforts to achieve quality education for all children, prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable, through inclusive partnership, financing and a focus on effective education systems. The Global Partnership is an independently governed multi-stakeholder partnership with 60 developing country governments, as well as donors, civil society/non-governmental organizations, teacher organizations, international organizations, the private sector and foundations. Over the past decade, the Global Partnership has allocated US$4.3 billion to support education in developing countries.