Education Department Launches IEMIS Portal, Publishes Details of 38,731 Schools Across Nepal

Nepal's Department of Education has launched a public portal called the Integrated Educational Management Information System (IEMIS), making consolidated information on schools across the country accessible to the public. The portal provides details on student enrollment, scholarships, physical infrastructure and other aspects of school operations.

According to the department, a total of 38,731 schools of all types are currently operating across Nepal. The portal includes identifying information and other details about all these schools, allowing users to access the information from anywhere.

The system is also intended to improve transparency in school administration, financial management and the distribution of government grants.

Key Information Available on the IEMIS Portal

The Integrated Educational Management Information System (IEMIS) contains the following information:

• Separate enrollment figures for male and female students in each school.

• Details of school mergers and students transferred from one district to another.

• Information on the condition of school buildings and other physical infrastructure.

• Records showing whether school improvement plans, social audits and financial audits have been completed.

• Names and numbers of students receiving scholarships at private and institutional schools, along with information on vacant scholarship quotas.

According to the department, mandatory data entry into the portal has made schools' academic, administrative and financial activities more transparent.

The system has also improved transparency in the distribution of grants allocated to individual schools, the department stated.

Scholarship Quotas and Requirements for Private Schools

Under Nepal's Education Act, Education Regulations and the Act Relating to Compulsory and Free Education, private and institutional schools must provide scholarships based on their total student enrollment.

The minimum scholarship requirements are as follows:

Schools are required to update the number and details of students studying under scholarship arrangements in the IEMIS portal.

Schools that fail to update the required information may be excluded from the educational information system.

The department has emphasized that maintaining accurate scholarship records is necessary to improve transparency and ensure that schools comply with the prescribed requirements.

School and Student Statistics in Nepal

According to the annual report of the Ministry of Education and Sports for fiscal year 2082/83 BS, approximately 25% of schools operating across Nepal are private and institutional schools.

The report also provides the following breakdown of student enrollment:

• Community schools: 62.2% of students

• Private and institutional schools: 37.8% of students

These figures show the distribution of students between community and private or institutional schools across the country.

IEMIS Expected to Improve Transparency and School Governance

Bhakta Bahadur Godar, Director at the Department of Education, said the system has also made scholarship distribution by private schools more transparent.

According to Godar, the portal allows information about scholarships provided by private schools to be recorded and made accessible through the integrated system.

He stated that the arrangement would help strengthen good governance in school education and support efforts to address existing problems in the education sector.