This paper examines the inequality in secondary school attainment and its determinants across gender, caste, and ethnic group in rural Nepal. Using the primary data from a questionnaire survey, a series of interviews, and school observations, this study found that girls' school attainment is significantly lower than that of boys'. Similarly, Dalit (the lowest caste) and Janajati (indigenous, disadvantaged ethnic groups) students' school attainment is considerably lower than that of Brahman and Chhetri (high caste and privileged ethnic groups) students. Furthermore, the regression analysis using the education production function approach revealed that household chores, father's education, land sufficiency, student/teacher ratio, and local caste/ethnic composition are significant determinants affecting students' school attainment. However, students' desired level of education and the number of siblings they have were insignificant in this study. The results indicate that policy for inclusive education should be based on the local socio-cultural environment, especially with regard to the caste/ethnic composition of the local community.

This exploration of challenges and barriers to inclusion in Nepal elaborates a conceptual framework for education development in a diverse society. As Nepal is a highly diverse, caste-based, multi-ethnic, and multi-linguistic society with very low development indicators, the article focuses on barriers to education and related issues across different socioeconomic groups. A systematic review of the relevant literature forms the basis for the design of a practical approach to education development for this diverse society in light of education policy trends in Nepal since 1950. The five proposed steps for education policy formulation and implementation include an in-depth analysis of the existing situation and outcome assessments. The proposed approach will enable local governance institutions to design and implement pragmatic provisions for education development at local level in the context of a new constitution that mandates local government management of school education.

The preference for a son at birth is one of the key issues of demographic studies conducted in less developed countries; however, there is a rare exploration of child's sex preference among women in Nepal. This paper estimates the likelihood of a preference for son or daughter using the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data, which contains a nationally representative sample of Nepalese women. A multinomial logistic regression analysis shows that son and daughter preferences widely vary across ethnicities, educational and economic status, and geographical region. Regarding ethnic origin, women from the Janajati (the largest ethnic minority group that consists of many sub-ethnic groups) prefer daughter more than the top two caste groups, the Brahman and Chhetri, whereas the Madhesi, Muslim, and other ethnic minority women prefer son more than the top two caste groups. Similarly, less educated, poorer, and rural women prefer son more than more educated, richer, urban women in general. Women who desire more of either sex end up with more children in their household.

How do natural disasters affect academic performance? Despite numerous studies having been conducted after the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the academic impacts of this tragic event have rarely been explored. Applying the OLS estimation on the microdata collected through a questionnaire survey among 189 secondary school students of two secondary schools in one of the hardest-hit rural villages, we found that students’ average annual test scores dropped by 7% after the earthquake. Human losses measured by the incidence of death or injury and economic losses proxied by the level of house damage in a respondent’s family were found to be significant in the decline in the annual test scores of the respondents. Because secondary schools are usually not very close for most of the students in rural mountainous communities, we controlled for time taken to reach school, which was also found to significantly increase the magnitude of the drop in the test score. However, students’ level of happiness measured using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and the mother’s level of education were found to be significant in reducing the magnitude of the drop in the test score of students. The findings suggest more support is needed for students who faced higher levels of human and economic loss in their family.

With growing empirical evidences of sport's positive impacts on socioeconomic development and peacebuilding, there is progress in theorizing sport as a vehicle for social change and global growth of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) organisations; undoubtedly, the SDP sector can play a significant role in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly in the least developed countries (LDCs). However, local SDP organisations and related government policies in LDCs have rarely been studied, and there have been no studies conducted yet focusing Nepal. Thus, this paper explores the grassroots SDP organisations in Nepal and have found that 'Youth and Sport' related non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are proliferating since 1990, increasing from 157 to 3,799 in 2000, and recently reaching 11,886 in July 2017, thus contributing to the SDGs in many ways. However, the government has had no independent and organized SDP policy so far, and the related policies reviewed in the several policy documents are also not well linked with the national SDG framework and remain far apart from the global SDP movement. To develop a well-functioning SDP sector in countries like Nepal, we suggest further exploration of the 'Youth and Sport' NGOs and developing a comprehensive, independent national SDP policy that accelerates the achievement of SDGs in Nepal.