Where did over 600,000 school children vanish?

Poverty, poor learning, child marriage and migration continue to push children out of classrooms despite years of enrollment drives.

In 2016, school enrollment campaigns across Nepal celebrated a historic milestone when 1,053,824 children proudly registered for grade 1. Ten years later, during the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) administered in March-April 2026, that group had dwindled to just 430,667 students.