Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page
Search the Web

Teaching in Nepal
Welcome | Our Programs | Our Organisation | Amazing Nepal | Teaching in Nepal | Living in Nepal | Recruitment and Selection | Contact Us | Links | Picture Gallery

The Nepali Educational System
Nepal is a very backward country in the field of modern education. More than 70 % of the total population is still illiterate. Although the government has established a considerable number of schools, the goal of quality education has not yet been achieved, due the lack of investment and an insufficient number of well–qualified and -trained teachers.

School weeks are usually from Sundays to Fridays and school days usually run from 08.00 a.m. till 17.00 p.m. An average working week is around 36 hours. Working weeks are generally quite relaxed and as the Nepali agenda is literally filled with holidays and festivals our volunteers do have a lot of spare time to explore the country and do things on their own.


The Nepali educational system is comparable to that of India, which means that from Kindergarten onwards all classes are taught in English. It needs to be understood, however, that the level of both written and verbal English is inferior to that of most Western countries.

Subsequently, the Nepalese educational system is rather old fashioned. Textbooks are usually from India and tend to be very subjective in their context. Also, it is worth noting that Indian-English is different from English-English (as the Nepali call it) and that this might cause some difficulties in the communication process. Furthermore, the quality, quantity and variety of text books are usually far from abundant. In some occasions there even will be no books to teach from at all. Here, it is up to the teachers to use their imagination.

Most of the other teachers in Nepalese schools will speak different degrees of English, but are all understandable. After overcoming their traditional initial shyness (sometimes caused by a lack of confidence in their spoken English) our volunteers will notice that all of their new colleagues are very friendly and warm hearted.

Nepalese people will usually only have come into contact with Western tourists, as opposed to voluntary workers. For some children, it may even be their first chance to speak to a foreigner. Inevitably (like at home), every class in school has its shy members and their braver counterparts. Many students may not talk to the volunteers for a few days or even a week. Volunteers should not take this personally as the children just need some time to get to know them. On the other hand, bolder students may ask the volunteers many questions about their home, country, family and hobbies right from the start.

Class sizes usually range widely from a mere 10 pupils up to 60 (!) in some cases. However, not to worry, because experience has taught us that as soon as a foreigner opens his or her mouth everybody becomes dead silent.

As the majority of our schools are located outside the main urban areas we kindly point to the fact that not much is going on outside school hours. TV and radio are usually not available and in some cases even electrical light is absent! The same applies for running and/or hot water. However this always depends on the school of placement.


To get a visual impression and some more ideas about teaching in Nepal we refer to our picture gallery.