Public budgets are not just financial instruments; they are a statement of a government’s priorities and values. In Nepal, the education sector has made significant progress in increasing access, but persistent inequities remain. Often, budgeting mechanisms have prioritized inputs, such as school infrastructure or teacher deployment, rather than outcomes that ensure equality, inclusion, and transformative impact.
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in the education sector offers a pathway to address structural disparities and enable meaningful change in educational outcomes. It is critical for transforming schools into inclusive, safe, and future-ready institutions that promote women’s leadership, economic empowerment, and social norm change within the education system.
GRB for Mitigating Intersectional Gaps
A foundational principle of GESI-responsive budgeting is that gender gaps are not solely about girls. Inequalities in education intersect with caste, ethnicity, disability, geography, age, poverty, and minority status. In Nepal, these intersecting factors contribute to disparities in school enrollment, retention, learning outcomes, participation in STEM, leadership representation, digital access, and exposure to harmful practices such as child marriage and school-based violence. Ignoring these intersections risks reinforcing existing inequalities and reduces the effectiveness of resource allocation.
Data from sources such as the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the Integrated Education Management Information System (IEMIS), and sectoral assessments demonstrate that children from Dalit, Janajati, children with disabilities, linguistic minorities, and other marginalized communities face disproportionate barriers to educational success. Addressing these gaps requires budgets that are equity-focused rather than simply allocating equal resources to all students.
GESI-Responsive Budgeting in Education
GESI-responsive budgeting follows a systematic process to ensure that budgets not only reflect policy priorities but actively address structural inequalities. Key steps include:
Situation Analysis or Gender Diagnosis: This step identifies what inequalities exist, why they exist, and for whom. Tools such as barrier analysis, access and control profiles, and gender-disaggregated data help quantify disparities. In education, this includes examining dropout and retention rates, learning outcomes, safe and accessible classrooms, school participation, workload and unpaid care responsibilities, parental engagement, STEM enrollment, leadership representation, and exposure to harmful practices.
Policy & Program Design: Based on the diagnosis, policymakers set GESI-specific objectives that are measurable and aligned with national commitments, including the SDGs, Nepal’s 16th Plan, SESP, National Education Policy, CEDAW, the Act Relating to Free & Compulsory Education, UNCRPD, and the national GRB framework. Examples include reducing dropout rates, increasing women’s representation as head teachers, promoting marginalized girls’ participation in STEM, and reducing corporal punishment and school-based violence.
Budget Formulation: Budgets must be linked to interventions designed to close identified gaps. This ensures resource allocation is evidence-based and targeted rather than symbolic. Sample interventions include scholarships for poor and marginalized students, provision of menstrual hygiene and WASH facilities, ICT access to mitigate the digital divide, teacher training in inclusive education, and remedial instruction for struggling learners.
Budget Execution: Implementation must be inclusive and participatory. Treasury discipline, timely disbursement, gender-responsive procurement, and localization of funds to local governments are essential for achieving the budget’s intended impact. Execution should also include capacity-building for local education units and community stakeholders to strengthen sustainability.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting: GRB requires systematic monitoring using GESI-specific indicators, such as marginalized students’ dropout rates, STEM enrollment, women in leadership positions, digital access gaps, youth engagement in harmful practice mitigation, and GPI status. Accountability mechanisms—including government oversight, public disclosure, GESI audits, CSO monitoring, social audits, and community feedback loops—reinforce transparency and improve resource utilization.
Priority Areas for GESI-Responsive Budgeting in Nepal’s Education Sector
Effective GRB targets structural barriers and aims for systemic transformation. Key investments include:
Reducing Dropout & Expanding STEAM Access: Scholarships and remedial support for marginalized students; access to subject experts; learning continuity support for students genuinely unable to afford materials.
Valuing Women’s Unpaid Care Work: Incorporate flexible school schedules, parenting education, community linkages, and time-use data into local education planning to reduce care burdens and increase girls’ and women’s participation.
Prevention of Harmful Practices through Schools: Extra-curricular programs addressing child marriage, GBV, discrimination, and harmful norms; youth-led initiatives; community campaigns for behavioral change and safer school ecosystems.
GESI Capacity Building & Institutional Accountability: Mandatory GESI training for teachers, SMCs, and head teachers; refresher courses; strengthened complaint handling, referral, and safeguarding systems.
Women’s Leadership Pipeline in Education: Leadership programs, training in school management and financial governance, and performance-based incentives to increase women in managerial positions.
Parenting Education and Family Engagement: Parenting education on positive parenting, homeschooling support, learning continuity, and financial literacy; differential approaches for public support based on need.
Economic Empowerment through Schools: Earn-and-learn programs, income-generation initiatives for parents unable to support schooling, and market-linked skill development to reduce dropout and enhance women’s economic agency.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Strengthen IEMIS and other data systems to enable evidence-based planning, targeted allocation, and accountability.
Inclusive and Climate-Resilient Learning Environments: Accessible, safe, gender-responsive, disability-friendly, print-rich, multilingual classrooms; climate-resilient infrastructure; ICT and internet access for all schools.
Smart Targeting of Social Support: Mid-day meals and sanitary pads targeted to those genuinely in need, reducing wastage and maximizing impact.
School Rationalization and Professional Support: Merge schools with critically low enrollment, provide counselors, and access to subject experts for cluster-based support.
Local Innovation and Sustainability: Empower SMCs and local governments to mobilize resources, incentivize innovation, and ensure long-term sustainability.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, GESI-responsive budgeting addresses structural causes of inequality, using intersectional targeting to ensure that resources reach those most in need. It links budgets, outcomes, and accountability, shifting from subsidy-based approaches to empowerment and agency. By strengthening systems, leadership, and social norms, GESI-responsive budgeting moves Nepal from access → equity → agency → leadership → sustainability, enabling transformative change in education.
GESI-responsive budgeting is not an additional cost; it is an investment in the future of Nepal’s children and communities. When supported by GESI-responsive financial planning, education becomes a platform for social justice, economic empowerment, leadership, and inclusive development. Embedding GESI principles into budgeting ensures that public resources are utilized efficiently, equitably, and strategically, contributing to the realization of Nepal’s SDGs, 16th Plan goals, and constitutional commitments to gender equality and social inclusion.
In the education sector, GESI-responsive budgeting is truly a boon for educational transformation, bridging gaps, dismantling barriers, and fostering inclusive, safe, and future-ready learning environments.
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