ABSTRACT
If literacy and access to formal education are considered to be basic human needs and if levels of educational attainment are a crucial measure of economic and social development, then it is appropriate to examine recent developments in Nepal’s educational policy and provision. Table 30 shows that overall levels of literacy, defined as an individual being able to read and write with understanding, had increased to just under a quarter of the total population by 1981. By 1985 the figure had risen to 29 per cent, an encouraging increase in four years but still somewhat below the target of 32.4 per cent for the end of Sixth Plan period. Nepal: Literacy Levels and Access to Primary Education, 1971–81 https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Ecological region
Per cent literate 1971
Per cent literate 1981
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Mountain
17.57
2.06
9.90
27.64
7.84
17.96
Hill
25.83
3.94
14.81
36.90
12.90
24.94
Terai
22.13
4.40
13.65
32.11
11.93
22.48
Total
23.59
3.92
13.89
33.96
12.05
2.3.26
