Structure of School Level Curriculum in Nepal

Schools in Nepal do not each decide for themselves what to teach and how much time to give each subject. One national plan sets this for the whole country. Under the National Curriculum Framework, 2076 BS, the school curriculum is arranged in stages. It starts with early childhood development and education, continues through basic education from grade 1 to grade 8, and then moves on to secondary education. Each stage is built differently, because children of different ages have different abilities and needs.

• Early childhood development and education
• Basic education, grades 1 to 3
• Basic education, grades 4 and 5
• Basic education, grades 6 to 8
• Secondary education, grades 9 to 12

For a small child who has just started school, the first goal is not book knowledge. The body, the mind, the feelings and the behaviour of the child all need to grow together. So the main aim of the early childhood development and education curriculum is the all round development of children, and to make them keen on learning so that a strong foundation is laid for everything they learn later. To help young children reach these stages of development, the curriculum is divided into two broad learning areas.

The foundational skills area gives a child the basics needed for life. Running, jumping and holding a pencil are physical skills. Noticing and handling anger, fear or joy is an emotional skill. Waiting for a turn while playing with friends is a social and moral skill. Washing hands before eating is a health and safety skill. The subject skills area gets a child ready for the subjects that come later. Listening to and telling a story is a language skill. Sorting things by size or colour and counting them are pre mathematical skills. Foundational skills get 384 hours and subject skills get 192 hours, so the two areas together get 576 hours a year.

At this age, play and rest matter as much as learning. So on top of the 576 hours given to the learning areas, there is extra time for recreation, outdoor games and rest. It is at least one hour every day, which adds up to 256 more hours in a year.

Education from grade 1 to grade 8 is called basic education, and its curriculum is arranged at three levels. The first level is grades 1 to 3, and here the curriculum is integrated. First, broad learning themes are identified. Then the curriculum is prepared on a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary pattern, using both the subjects and these themes. Some learning outcomes cannot be fully covered by the integrated themes, so subject based learning areas are kept as well to cover them.

An example makes this clear. When children study a theme called 'Our Market', they read and write the names of fruits, which is language. They count coins and add up prices, which is mathematics. They tell fresh food from stale food, which is science and health. They speak politely to the shopkeeper, which is social behaviour. Many subjects are learnt through one activity. In grades 1 to 3, the learning areas are language, mathematics, science, health and physical education, social studies, creative arts, and mother tongue and local subjects. Following the integrated approach, the subject activities, their credit hours and their annual working hours are as follows:

The table above shows time in two ways. The first is the credit hour, which shows how much weight a subject carries. The second is the annual working hour, which shows how many hours the subject is actually taught in a year. A period of 32 hours of teaching and learning is counted as one credit hour.

So multiplying the credit hours by 32 gives the annual working hours. Nepali in grades 1 to 3 has 5 credit hours. Multiplying by 32 gives its yearly time:

\[ 5 \times 32 = 160 \]

English, mathematics and the other subjects with 4 credit hours each get this much time in a year:

\[ 4 \times 32 = 128 \]

All the subjects of grades 1 to 3 together carry 26 credit hours. Their total yearly time is:

\[ 26 \times 32 = 832 \]

The names in the table are short, but each one holds a lot:

• Language skills include listening, speaking, reading and writing, building vocabulary, basic communication skills and skills of expressing oneself.
• Mathematical skills cover the idea of numbers and numerals, along with building and using practical mathematical knowledge and skills in daily life.
• Science, health and physical education activities cover using scientific thinking and skills, science, the environment, the local ecosystem, health and physical education, and technology.
• Social studies, character development and creative arts activities cover social values and norms, character building, creativity, art and culture, useful life skills, and information and communication technology.
• The local subject covers activities based on the mother tongue and on local knowledge, skills and technology.

The curriculum for the local subject is not written once for the whole country. The school itself develops its curriculum and learning materials and puts them into use, working together with local experts, parents and the local government. A school in a hill village, for example, can turn songs in the local mother tongue, the way local crops are grown, or a traditional craft into lessons.

Nepal also has systems of education that are older than modern schools: Sanskrit schools, Gurukuls, Gonpas and Bihars (Buddhist monastery schools), Madrasas (Islamic schools) and Mundhum (the Kirat tradition). In these traditional systems, every subject except Nepali and social studies is adapted and developed to suit that tradition before it is taught. This means a student in such a school studies Nepali and social studies just like any other student, while the other subjects are shaped to fit the tradition.

In grades 4 and 5, subjects start to separate. The curriculum at this level gives students the learning areas of language, mathematics, science and technology, social studies and human value education, health, physical and creative arts, and mother tongue and local subjects. The credit hours and annual working hours of the subjects at this level are:

Comparing this with grades 1 to 3 shows some clear changes. English and mathematics go up from 4 to 5 credit hours. Science is no longer joined with health and becomes its own subject, called science and technology. Social studies is now paired with human value education instead of character development. Health, physical education and creative arts are put together into one subject with 3 credit hours. The mother tongue or local subject comes down from 5 to 4 credit hours. The total rises from 26 to 32 credit hours, and the yearly time rises from 832 to 1024 hours.

The last level of basic education is grades 6 to 8. Its learning areas are language, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, environment, population, human values, health and physical education, and the local subject. Under studies based on local needs, students can learn content based on their mother tongue or on local art, culture and skills. Along with this, some skills needed for everyday life are not made into separate subjects. Instead they are built into the subjects themselves. These skills are:

• Interpersonal skills, for getting along with other people
• Self awareness skills
• Critical and creative thinking skills
• Decision making skills
• Information technology skills
• Skills for managing conflict and stress

The subject structure of the curriculum at this level is:

The structure for traditional schools in grades 6 to 8 shows how the curriculum is adapted. Sanskrit schools, Gurukuls and Veda Vidyashrams (schools of Vedic learning) follow this structure:

Here the slash (/) means 'or'. In the second row, for example, a student studies either English or Sanskrit composition. Nepali and mathematics stay exactly as in the general stream. In place of health and the mother tongue, the Vedas or Niti Shastra get 4 credit hours and the Sanskrit language gets 3. So although some subjects change, the total is still 32 credit hours and 1024 hours a year.

Students in Buddhist Gonpas and Bihars and in Islamic Madrasas follow the structure below in grades 6 to 8. The first five subjects are the same as in the general stream. In the last two rows there are separate choices for Gonpa or Bihar students and for Madrasa students.

In row six, Gonpa and Bihar students study Bhot, Pali, Sanskrit or another language, while Madrasa students study Urdu. In row seven, Gonpas and Bihars teach a local subject, Buddhist education or Sambhota grammar, while Madrasas teach conduct education (Diniyat) or the Quran in Arabic. Here too, Nepali and social studies are the same as in every other school, and the total stays at 32 credit hours and 1024 hours a year.

This table tells the story of the whole structure. In the early years, learning is built around skills rather than subjects, and there is less teaching time. In grades 1 to 3, subjects are taught joined together. From grade 4 the subjects separate and the time settles at 32 credit hours. In the traditional streams some subjects change, but the total time is kept equal to the general stream, so no student in any stream gets less teaching time.