ADB extends aid to improve secondary education in Nepal

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 120-million-U.S. dollar loan and a 500,000-U.S. dollar grant to help improve access and quality of secondary education in Nepal.

The loan is part of a multi-donor program to provide 6.5 billion U.S. dollars to the School Sector Development Plan, the government's main education initiative for 2017-2023.

ADB Nepal country office said in a statement on Wednesday that the project includes setting up 200 model schools with disaster risk resilient infrastructure, improved education facilities, a full complement of teachers and quality improvements to enhance student learning.

"Continued investment in education, particularly secondary education, is critical for Nepal to achieve its goal of becoming an inclusive and prosperous middle-income country by 2030," Sungsup Ra, director of the Human and Social Development Division in ADB's South Asia Regional Department, said.

The project will support government efforts to increase the number of secondary school graduates, who will earn higher wages than non-graduates, and boost the efficiency of the country's education system.

According to ADB, the program will benefit 6.3 million students, 153,200 teachers, and more than 34,000 schools. Professional development courses will be provided to 13,500 subject teachers.

The program will be carried out over the next 5 years under ADB's results-based lending modality, which will disburse funds based on the achievement of yearly results or performance targets. Enditem