Girls in Science and Technology Education: A Study on Access, Participation, and Performance of Girls in Nepal

This paper is a study on Access, Participation, and Performance of Girls in Science and Technology in Nepal. This study was undertaken essentially to achieve four objectives, viz. to review curricular and research materials from gender lens, identify stakeholders’ perspective towards girls’ access to and participation in Science and Technology Education (STE) related subjects, find out the forces that are both conducive as well as obstructive to STE for girls, and work out measures to address the problems. In view of these objectives, documents were reviewed, 55 schools in 11 districts of the country surveyed and data of 80,838 students analyzed quantitatively. This apart, qualitative information obtained from 22 different schools of the districts was processed, classroom dynamics was observed, and case studies were carried out. The data thus obtained from the fields were shared through debriefing sessions in the headquarters of the districts covered by the study. Altogether 16 people were directly involved in the study, 11 of them in gathering field data and the rest in reviewing curricular materials, analyzing data and writing report. All eight members of the study advisory team and the researcher from UNESCO Paris reviewed the report. And, a national workshop provided necessary input to finalize the STE work plan.[UNESCO Kathmandu Series of Monographs and Working Papers: No 4]