KATHMANDU, Sept 22: Nepal’s long-delayed School Education Bill is back at the drafting stage after the previous bill lapsed following the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR), forcing the government to restart the process of formulating a new law for the country’s school education sector.
The Ministry of Education and Sports has formed a seven-member task force led by Shailendra Jha, chief adviser to Education and Sports Minister Sasmit Pokharel, to prepare a fresh draft of the bill. The task force includes ministry officials and education experts.
Jha said the new bill will draw on the previous draft while taking into account the changed context and concerns raised by stakeholders during the earlier process.
The previous bill to amend and consolidate laws relating to school education was registered in the HoR on 13 September, 2023. It was subsequently sent to the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee for deliberations.
The bill drew extensive debate in Parliament, with 152 lawmakers registering 1,738 amendment proposals. However, it could not complete the legislative process before the House was dissolved on September 12, 2025, causing the bill to lapse.
Jha said the government does not intend to discard the work already done on the previous bill.
“The previous bill will serve as a basis for the new one. However, there have been changes in the context, and we need to address the concerns raised during the earlier process,” he said.
Input collection for drafting education regulations nears end
According to Jha, the government wants to prepare a bill that can address the concerns of teachers, local governments, private schools and other stakeholders while reducing the possibility of renewed protests and disagreements.
He said suggestions are being collected from all seven provinces and 753 local levels as part of the new drafting process.
“The new bill will be prepared in a way that gives ownership to all sides,” Jha said.
The government has also held policy dialogues in all seven provinces to gather views on school education. The task force plans to incorporate the suggestions received through these consultations while preparing the draft.
Jha said the new legislation needs to address not only immediate problems in school education but also broader issues related to education quality, teacher management, school operation and the roles of the three levels of government.
The previous bill had triggered strong reactions from teachers and other education stakeholders, particularly over provisions concerning teacher appointment, transfer, promotion, service conditions and performance evaluation.
Tula Bahadur Thapa, general secretary of the Nepal Teachers’ Federation, said teachers’ concerns must be properly incorporated into the new bill.
“The bill should be brought only after meaningful consultations with teachers, who are directly involved in school education,” Thapa said.
He said the government should also address the concerns of temporary and contract teachers, early childhood development workers, school employees and other groups involved in the education sector.
The previous bill had undergone extensive consultation before being sent to the parliamentary committee. However, disagreements over several provisions remained unresolved.
One of the major areas of contention was the division of authority over school education among the federal, provincial and local governments. Questions also remained over teacher management, including appointment, transfer, promotion, service conditions and performance evaluation.
The issue of teachers’ political affiliation was another contentious matter.
The regulation of private schools also emerged as a major point of disagreement. Provisions concerning school fees, the operation and regulation of private schools, the conversion of private schools into educational trusts and permission to establish new schools had drawn objections from private school operators.
The new bill is expected to revisit these issues while incorporating the concerns gathered through the latest consultations.
The government now faces the task of turning the new draft into a bill and taking it through the required legislative process. Once prepared, the draft will go through revisions at the ministry before being forwarded to the Cabinet. It can then be registered in Parliament for further discussion and deliberation.
The new effort comes after years of attempts to replace the existing Education Act, 1971. The previous School Education Bill had reached the parliamentary stage but failed to become law after the dissolution of the House.
With the government now starting over, the new task force faces the challenge of turning years of debate, amendments and stakeholder consultations into legislation that can address the longstanding disputes surrounding Nepal’s school education system.
