The international political economy of educational policy development in Nepal: 1950-2020

Abstract

ABSTRACT The modern history of Nepal started after the Kingdom of Nepal was formed during the 1760s through a series of military battles, which is now known as a national unification campaign, led by Prithvi Narayan Shah. The history of mass education, however, started during the 1950s when a political uprising overthrew autocratic Rana regime that had ruled the country for more than a century. This paper aims to explore Nepal’s educational history by analysing key educational policy documents produced by the Government of Nepal as well as its major donor the World Bank from 1950 to 2020. The paper uses international political economy as a theoretical framework and critical policy sociology as a methodological approach. The key argument of the paper is that, since some of the problematic assumptions of modernism, nationalism, and globalism have guided Nepal’s policy agendas, its education system has not addressed multifarious challenges faced by its citizens. The theoretical and methodological approaches taken for exploring the interconnections between education, economy, and politics will be helpful for future researchers to understand the significance of education not only for economic development but also for the institutionalization of democracy in both developed and developing countries.