School Responses to Covid 19 and Inclusive Education in Nepal

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing educational inequalities, particularly in low-income countries where data remains scarce. Drawing on survey data from 10th grade students, teachers, and governance actors across multiple provinces in Nepal, this article investigates how both individual characteristics and systemic factors contributed to patterns of exclusion during the pandemic. We examine not only how differences in individual characteristics resulted in exclusion of students but also inequities in the delivery of alternative learning modalities across schools and provinces, and how these factors combined to produce a pattern of exclusion. We find large differences in institutional capacity, teaching resources, teaching strategies, and in the inclusiveness of these teaching strategies. Exclusion happened despite the government’s policy priority of targeting groups at risk. Students who participated in online teaching belonged to the more resourceful households while community-based teaching was inclusive of everyone. No gender differences were reported in access to digital resources, but boys reported considerably higher levels of confidence in their digital knowledge compared with girls, suggesting that boys benefited more from online teaching. The article adds to the literature on how crisis responses may reproduce or deepen pre-existing inequalities in education systems in the Global South.