Many students in Nepal who pass grade 10 remain undecided on what to study after SEE in Nepal or abroad. Please read the range of options here.
A Nepali student as young as 15 or 16 years old might be in great dilemma at the crossroads of having completed 10th grade, various interests, guardians’ expectations and wide variety of educational opportunities available. Sometimes the students might not find the right study program and area of study to go through.
This blog is hereby intended to guide the students from Nepal who have been expecting to enroll in the right study area and study programme after the 10th grade, commonly called as ’10 class’ or ‘class 10’. We have tried to list the various opportunities in Nepal and abroad as well.
PCL / Diploma / 10+2 / Upper Secondary School / High School / GCE A – Level / IB Diploma / Grade 11 and 12, and many other names
We hereby want to make you clear that these popular names after grade 10 can be used interchangeably when you are communicating with somebody from different context of nationality, or geography.
In Nepal, Tribhuvan University used to offer Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) programmes when Nepal had not introduced specialised 10+2 programmes under Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB). The PCL Programmes were also commonly called as I.Sc. (Intermediate in Science) / I.Com. (Intermediate in Commerce) / I.A. (Intermediate in Arts) etc.
PCL programmes under Tribhuvan University were concluded, following the government’s strong commitment to phase out this particular programme. While Cambridge University can popularly continue the equivalent programme called A-level in 2021 and perhaps till eternity, why did Nepal’s Tribhuvan University kill the once ‘singleton’ high school program in spite of updating and modifying it according to temporal contexts? – it remains a matter of heated debate.
While I am writing this blog, again, the 10+2 programme of Nepal has been phased out with the new national curricular update. Now, the secondary education of Nepal starts from grade 9 and ends with completion of grade 12. In case of technical education, it completes with mandatory vocational practicum of about 1 extra year. These streams of Nepal’s school education, as clearly stated by the national curriculum, are certified (grade 10, 11, and 12) by National Examination Board (NEB) of Nepal.
In case of technical education, one student from general stream might wonder – can I join technical education’s 11th grade jumping from general stream’s 10th grade? While this question remains quite difficult to answer, there is a confident solution for this – CTEVT’s PCL / Diploma programmes.
A Nepali student might also want to study international curriculum in Nepal and abroad. There are countless fields (ranging from technical and vocational education to science, business, humanities, fine arts, performing arts and so on) to countless programmes in Nepal and out of Nepal.
Please be assured that a student from technical stream can even choose to study further in specialised universities; likewise a student from general stream can choose to study further in universities of applied sciences. The various technical- and general study options after 10th grade / 10 class / class 10 will be interchangeably regarded as equivalent – at least to same field of study.
What to Study after SEE? – Top 10 list of viable options for Nepali after-SEE (post-SEE) students
1. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (General Stream)
2. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (Technical Stream)
3. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (Sanskrit Stream)
4. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (Gompa / Madarasha Stream)
5. Diploma / PCL Offered by CTEVT in Nepal
6. Cambridge International A and AS – Level in Nepal
7. IB Diploma in Nepal
8. Schools affiliated to CBSE Board (India) in Nepal
9. Study in India and Abroad
10. Distance Education
1. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (General Stream)
The general stream grade 11 and 12 are widely offered in Nepal. There are many 0-12 institutions and few institutions with only grade 11 and 12. Popularly, students and their parents have 3 faculties in mind (Humanities, Management and Science) when it comes to choose the school and subjects to study.
You might be interested on: Curriculum of Grade 11 and 12 – 2077 – Compulsory Subjects | Download PDF
Recently the Curriculum Development Centre of Nepal has amended the national curriculum. The general stream curriculum for grade 11 and grade 12 provisions 3 mandatory subjects and minimum 3 elective subjects / optional subjects to be chosen from the group of 4 different pools.
3 mandatory subjects are – English (8 credit hours), Nepali (6 credit hours) and Social Studies and Life Skills Education / OR Mathematics (10 credit hours).
The curriculum offers 4 pools of elective / optional subjects. Students can choose one subject (10 credit hours) from each pool of elective / optional subjects. This means that a student can take up to 4 subjects (40 elective hours) according to his/her interest. However, 3 elective / optional subjects (30 credit hours) qualify them to pass upper secondary school / high school / 10+2 / school in Nepal.
When a student chooses a subject in grade 11, it is not easily acceptable to leave that subject and choose another one in grade 12.
> Download Compulsory Nepali Textbook as PDF – Grade 11 (Grade XI)
> Download Compulsory English Textbook as PDF – Grade 11 (Grade XI)
> Download Social Studies and Life Skills Education as PDF – Grade 11 (Grade XI)
Elective / Optional Subjects in Pool 1: Physics, Accounting, Rural Development, Jurisprudence and Legal Theories, Painting, Child Development and Learning, Psychology, History, Gender Studies, Hospitality Management, Agronomy, Naturopathy, Human Value Education
Elective / Optional Subjects in Pool 2: Biology, Education and Development, Geography, Procedural Law, Sociology, Ayurveda, Business Studies, Linguistics, Political Science, Philosophy, Population Studies, Horticulture, Food and Nutrition, Dance, History of Arts
Elective / Optional Subjects in Pool 3: Chemistry, Economics, Tourism and Mountaineering Studies, Marketing, Gerontology and Care Taking Education, Yoga, Vocal / Instrumental, Sewing and Knitting, Constitutional Law, Culinary Arts, Culture, Fashion Designing, Film and Documentary, Livestock Poultry and Fish Farming, Nepali, English, Maithili, Newari, Hindi, Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, Urdu, Bhojpuri, French, Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, Applied Arts
Elective / Optional Subjects in Pool 4: Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Business Mathematics, Human Rights, Library and Information Science, Home Science, Environment Science, General Law, Finance, Co-operative Management, Buddhist Studies, Sculpture, Singing, Computer Science, Sericulture and Beekeeping, Beautician and Hair Dressing, Medicinal Herbs, Plumbing and Wiring, Interior Decoration, Hotel Management, Mass Communication, Health and Physical Education, Sports Science,
DISCLAIMER: Foreign students who do not feel confident in Nepali, they can opt for another language than Nepali as mandatory subject.
2. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (Technical Stream)
Our research had figured that Nepal’s technical stream schools have been currently offering animal science, civil engineering, computer engineering, plant science, and electrical engineering. It also seems that they have been expanding the scope of technical and vocational education (tvet) in Nepal.
The technical stream of Nepal’s school education actually starts from grade 9. Hence, most probably the 10th grade pass-out students from general stream would not find it logical to push for grade 11 of technical stream. Saying so, we can not confirm this given that we found very less information in this particular interest. Please confirm with the technical school that offers till grade 12th.
Students might opt for CTEVT’s PCL / Diploma in various fields of technical and vocational education.
3. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (Sanskrit Stream)
The Sanskrit stream of grade 11 and grade 12 of Nepal has little modification from the general stream. The mandatory subjects like Nepali (6 credit hours), Social Studies and Life Skills Education / OR Mathematics (10 credit hours) remain same. Here, students can choose to study English or Sanskrit Comprehension (8 credit hours). Another mandatory subject is Sanskrit Language and Grammar (10 credit hours).
There are 3 pools of elective subjects. Students can choose 1 subject from each pool so that they can choose 2 subjects at minimum (20 credit hours). If they choose one subject from the remaining pool, they pass the high school with 10 extra credit hours.
Elective Subjects in Pool 1: Shukla Yajurveda, Samaveda, Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Grammar, Siddhānta Jyotish, Justice, Philosophy, Sanskrit Literature, Itihas-purana, Nitishastra
Elective Subjects in Pool 2: Naturopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga, Karma Kanda, Falit Jyotish, Vaastu Shastra, Social Studies and Life Skills Education
Elective Subjects in Pool 3: Human Value Education, Computer Science, Economics, Nepali, English, Mathematics
4. Grade 11 and 12 in Nepal (Gompa / Madarasha Stream)
Nepal could be one of the few countries in the world which has given equivalent credit to the religious schools as given to general schools and technical schools.
The schools conducted by Buddhist religious societies are called Gompa, and those conducted by Islamic religious societies are called Madarasha.
By the recent regulations, the curriculum to be conducted in these schools are guided by the new national curriculum. Not only curriculum, every regulation have to be followed – child friendly learning environment, trained and qualified teachers and so on.
In 11th and 12th grades of the religious schools, the mandatory subjects Nepali (6 credit hours) and Social Studies and Life Skills Education / OR Mathematics (10 credit hours) remain as with other schools. Students can choose Buddhist Education in place of English (8 credit hours) in Gompa. Students from Madarasha can choose Urdu Grammar and Literature in place of English (8 credit hours).
The students from religious schools can take 1 subject from each pool of 3 (30 credit hours).
Elective Subjects in Pool 1: Buddhist Philosophy, Kuran
Elective Subjects in Pool 2: Computer Science, Buddhist Karma Kanda, Jyotish, Bhaiṣajya, Shilpa Vidhya, Hadish and Asule Hadith (? Hadith and Usul Al Hadith)
Elective Subjects in Pool 3: English, Japanese, Chinese, Pali Language, Bhot Bhasha (Tibetan), Sanskrit Comprehension, Miras Science
5. Diploma / PCL offered by CTEVT in Nepal
Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) is a renowned autonomous institution for providing, developing, controlling, assessing and certifying the technical and vocational education and training across Nepal. It has its own training schools across Nepal. It also gives affiliations to private training schools across Nepal.
For SEE / SLC graduates, it offers pre-diploma programmes to prepare junior technical workforce. This training is of shorter duration and focused on preparing the workforce at shortest of the practical training. The graduates are certified with technical SLC (TSLC) or pre-diploma.
It also offers short term-courses especially focused in enabling adults lacking skills or know-hows of several of income generating activities / entrepreneurship.
The main attraction of CTEVT are 3 year Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) programmes which are accepted as high school equivalent by most of the universities in Nepal. Some students and their parents believe that these PCL / Diploma programmes prepare students move smarter than students from general stream high school education. These programmes are offered in various fields like agriculture, forestry, engineering, health, nurisng, dentistry, hospitality, management and humanities. The legacy of Tribhuvan University’s PCL / I.Sc. is still being carried by CTEVT – at least in the name of the qualification.
6. Cambridge International A and AS – Level in Nepal
Cambridge International AS and A-level are not the singleton curriculum, training and assessment system developed by the Cambridge University. They have developed junior schools systems and also internationally accepted English tests systems.
Cambridge International AS and A – Level are intermediate / 10 + 2 / PCL equivalent of Nepal. It is claimed that Kathmandu Academy, Sano Gaucharan, Kathmandu is the first Cambridge GCE A – Level school in Nepal, starting in 1988.
Since then, many private institutions like Chelsea International Academy have been successfully offering and conducting courses that prepare students for Cambridge A – levels. In fact, they have been preparing the students with cutting edge approaches, ultimately making them confident in winning many opportunities at the world stage.
According to Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), this programme consists of 55 subjects. It is popularly believed that it offers much flexibility in selection of courses and prepares students for higher education – mostly in competitive places in the developed countries. However, we are not here to add to claims from others.
7. IB Diploma in Nepal
International Baccalaureate (IB) is getting increasingly popular across the world as globally accepted international curriculum for high school level students. It offers 3 levels of curriculum namely IB Primary Years Programme, IB Middle Years Programme and IB Diploma (High School).
Grade 10 passouts from Nepal qualify to join IB Diploma Programmes across Nepal or abroad. At present, there is just one school offering IB Diploma Programme in Nepal.
8. Schools affiliated to CBSE Board (India) in Nepal
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE Board) of India has been increasingly becoming popular in Nepal. Nepal has been getting world-class institutions that offer enrollment, instruction and assessment for CBSE certification.
9. Study in India and Abroad
We do not mostly and actively recommend to send young students to venture high school in India or in another country. However, many parents in Nepal have been doing so. They might want their children be able to learn intercultural skills, prepare for life adventures, and most importantly – get the quality education.
Many boarding schools in India have been offering life-sized experiences through the national (mostly CBSE curriculum) and international study programmes and inculcate with knowledge, skills, values and promptness / actions to being smart human being. Likewise, many parents have been sending their kids as young as 15 to 19 to high schools as far as Thailand, the UK, the USA, or Canada.
Some parents might have migrated abroad little later in their lives when their kids are already a teenager. In such situation, it is advisable to keep the young ones in international schools offering A-Levels, IB – Diploma or any other international curriculum offered in English language.
10. Distance Education
Distance education could be beneficial to certain groups of students, and under certain circumstances. India’s NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) is probably the largest institution in the world offering distance mode education to school students. It offers Senior Secondary (Grade 11 and 12) education through distance mode.
The world has been witnessing the increasing popularity of Free- and Democratic Schools and homeschooling programmes. In South Asia, these agenda have been much weaker. However, India has been doing many things in distance education. Do you know that India offers 34 Free Dish TV Education Channels to its residents?
After researching a lot on the possibility of enrolling a Nepali student in NIOS board’s Senior Secondary Programme, we found some information.
There are more than seven thousand four hundred Accredited Institutions (AIs) and Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs) of NIOS in India, Nepal and Middle East Countries. We believe that one of these institutions located in Nepal have been helping aspirants to join, study and pass the 12th grade.
Remember – by law, NIOS certificates are regarded as equivalent to other high school certificates from India (for example – CBSE). However, even in India, there have been many events of discrimination assuming the students passing out from NIOS board as below-standard performers.
