At a time when educationists are talking about the need for more budget for the education sector, provincial governments too seem to be following the footsteps of the federal government.

A recent study ‘Brief analysis of provincial government budget for the fiscal 2018/19’ released by National Campaign for Education Nepal’ shows that the budget allocated for education sector is decreasing every year.

In the fiscal 2018/19, the federal government allocated 10.20 per cent of the total budget for education. This is nowhere close to the commitment made by the government to increase spending on the education sector.

The government had pledged to allocate a minimum of 20 per cent of the total budget for education.


The highest budget allocated for the education sector is 6.6 per cent (Sudurpaschim Province), whereas the lowest is 2.30 per cent (Province 4). Budget allocated for the education sector by other provinces has neither been mentioned clearly in the red book nor provincial budget.

Province 1 has not mentioned clearly about the education budget in the red book, but has Rs 3.7017 billion for the Ministry of Social Development, which looks after education sector.

Like Province 1, Province 2 has also allocated educational budget to ministries without mentioning the heading. The Province 2 government has allocated Rs 2.9995 billion for the Ministry of Social Development.


In the same way, the total amount allocated by Province 3 for the Ministry of Social Development is Rs 4.218516 billion.

However, Gandaki Province has earmarked 2.29 per cent of the total budget for the Ministry of Social Development and it has focused on the 21-point educational plan. Province 5 has earmarked Rs 3.3159 billion for the Ministry of Social Development.

The total budget for the education sector for Karnali Province is Rs 1.0229 billion which is 3.75 per cent of the total provincial budget.

source: the himalayan times, 25 November 2018