KATHMANDU, Oct 7: Despite growing attraction towards health education, other programs under the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) are seeing a steady decline in student enrollment.
According to CTEVT’s Information Officer, Ekaraj Adhikari, a recent study conducted by the council revealed that fewer students who passed this year’s SEE (Secondary Education Examination) are showing interest in technical education. The study found that students are reluctant to apply mainly because technical courses are expensive, take longer to complete and do not guarantee employment afterward.
CTEVT had allocated around 70,000 seats for three-year diploma courses in health, engineering, agriculture, and hotel management. “For the 20,000 seats in health education alone, over 40,000 applications were received,” said Adhikari in an interview with Republica, “but seats in engineering, hotel management and agriculture remain vacant as very few applications were filed.”
The report further noted that the curriculum for technical education has become outdated and is not aligned with skill-based, innovative learning. Adhikari added, “Education alone does not make one technically skilled. For technical education to thrive, industries, businesses, and enterprises must grow so that the skilled human resources produced can find a market.”
Adhikari further explained that while general education (Grades 11 and 12) takes only two years and provides a quicker pathway for students to go abroad or work, technical education takes three years and thus appears less appealing. “That’s why CTEVT has now begun revising its curriculum,” he said, “Meanwhile, the nursing field is seeing an overwhelming number of applicants due to its high demand both in Nepal and abroad.”
CTEVT set to modify training courses
During a recent meeting chaired by the Education, Science and Technology Minister and CTEVT Chairperson Mahabir Pun, the CTEVT decided to link technical education with innovation and revise its curriculum accordingly. The council has started preparing a roster of experts to lead the revision process.
CTEVT has also initiated a review of all affiliation requests it has received since 2012, with plans to submit a report by the end of this month to determine which institutions will be granted or denied affiliation.
According to CTEVT Examination Deputy Controller Upendra Pokharel, both the Education Development and Human Resource Center (under the Ministry of Education) and CTEVT have begun running similar programs at community schools, creating competition and confusion at the local level.
To produce skilled and competent human resources from the school level, the government introduced two educational streams — general and technical — about a decade ago. Students from Grade 9 to 12 could opt for technical education, as per the Education Act and Regulations.
However, the government simultaneously launched technical education programs under CTEVT at community schools, creating duplication. “On one hand, the Ministry’s Human Resource Development Center runs technical programs in Grades 9–12, and on the other, CTEVT runs similar programs in the same schools,” Pokharel said, “This has caused confusion among schools and students and led to overlapping investments.”
As a result, many technical institutions have stopped conducting programs and are either closed or facing mergers. According to CTEVT data, the number of community schools running technical programs has been declining.
CTEVT Director Pramod Acharya confirmed that the number of students enrolling in technical education is dropping, pushing many programs toward closure. Comparative data from the past three years show a continuous decline in community schools offering technical education. In 2023, there were 363 such schools, which dropped to 320 in 2024 and further declined to 241 in 2025.
“The three-year duration has discouraged many students from joining,” Acharya said, “In the past, civil engineering and agriculture were very popular, but interest has declined sharply in recent years. Only health-related programs are seeing a moderate increase in affiliated institutions.”
CTEVT data show that there were 142 schools offering civil engineering and 219 offering agriculture in 2023. The numbers fell to 130 and 137 respectively in 2024, and further to 104 and 92 in 2025. In contrast, the number of institutions offering health education increased from 263 in 2023 to 283 in 2024, and to 289 in 2025.
Across the country, CTEVT oversees 1,176 institutions — including private, partnership-based, affiliated, and Technical Education Schools (TES). However, about 50 percent of them did not enroll any students in the current academic session. “CTEVT is now preparing to merge institutions that lack students,” Acharya told Republica, “Our curriculum is almost identical to that of the Education Ministry’s technical stream, but CTEVT’s will now be revised to make it more practical and innovation-driven. We are also working to ensure that all exam results are published within three months.”
