Celebrating More Graduates

In Nepal, High School used to end at the Tenth grade. Recently, Nepal has started to adopt the international standard – which means High School ends at Twelfth Grade. However, the old practice of the Tenth grade National test ( which is called Secondary Education Examination, SEE)  has remained an Iron Gate which all students have to go through to get a High School Diploma. Only passing the SEE test will allow students to enter Eleventh Grade. Furthermore, the score also decides which career path they can choose ( like being a doctor, nurse, engineer, social worker, business, art and science – all gets decided here).

SEE exam is a national test which all tenth graders have to take. This year’s  test started at the end of march and went through the first week of April. The results were out a few days ago and the percentage passed was only 47.86 %, which meant more than half failed. Private schools; and public schools in the cities and in the urban centers did well, but the students in the under served  areas were among the majority who failed.

Our students all go to different public schools which are mostly in the underserved areas. Ten students from those schools took the test and nine  passed the test ( four got A’s and five got B’s ). Considering all the factors – our students did exceptionally well, and our congratulations to all of them. 

Sadly, one girl could not cross the Iron Gate and she is from the remotest school. Sixteen students took the test from that school and only one passed. This is the saddest part of the results, and there are even schools where almost all failed. Students who could not pass the tests can take a makeup test, and the schedules will be out soon, and we will be working closely with her and her school to ensure that she has another chance to get through those gates.