Though the first school was established in Nepal in 1853, education remained the domain of the elite until recent decades; only in the last fifty years has the system been expanded to provide services to all Nepalese citizens. There has been varying effectiveness in this aim; according to the last census completed in the country, the literacy rate was only 48%, with a large gender gap noticed; the female rate lags the male literacy rate by almost an astounding 30%, a number that should be completely unacceptable to any modern nation. The female literacy rates in the country remain amongst the lowest in the world. In the far west of the country, the female literacy rates hover around 14%. There are currently about 26,000 schools in the country, 415 colleges, and 2 universities, though many of these colleges are private and of dubious reputation. As can be expected in a developing world country beset by a myriad of governance and security issues, there are copious challenges facing the educational system in Nepal in the present day. The biggest issues can be seen in the realms of resources and funding, which are problems that exist across the spectrum in the country, and with inequalities that remain between classes/castes and genders in the country. In a country where 5.5 million students and 150,000 teachers are part of the educational system, the government's annual budget is an astoundingly low $98 million.
Schools in Nepal can be broken down into three categories: public, which receive government grants, institutional schools, which rely on NGO sources or are privately funded by the students; and community schools, which are run by the local people and do not receive outside funding. Education in government schools, grades 1-10, is free of cost. Private school education is often attainable only for the elites, as the schools that are not sponsored by NGO's are often very expensive. The language of instruction in the schools is Nepali, the national language of the country (though it is only spoken by a little over half of the ethnically diverse population).
Compulsory education is only present in five districts of the country; in many of the outlying, rural areas of the country, there is no government mandate for schooling. This fact, in combination with weak oversight of international law, creates a large problem of child labor in the country.
