Barriers to Completion of Basic Education: Individual Children’s Actual Enrolment Status in Nepal

As Nepal is on the verge of achieving quantitative expansion of basic education, it faces challenges in terms of completion rates. In this situation, what challenges do individual children face? This chapter aims to propose concrete measures for enhancing the completion rates of basic education through cases that were identified through analysis using longitudinal data so far. The various analyses—including analyses of enrolment patterns; the relationship between grade repetition, school dropout and age at school entry; and causes leading to dropouts—ultimately revealed the following causes as obstacles to the completion of basic education by children: fragile family environment, parents’ lack of understanding of and incentives for education, overage and harsh schooling conditions. The barriers to the completion of basic education can be eliminated by providing support for vulnerable children, promoting preschool education, revising rules regarding school transfers and increasing incentives through the creation of attractive occupations in the community. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal, whose slogan is ‘No one will be left behind’, it is essential to shed light on individual children and take the aforementioned necessary measures.