Education in Political Turmoil: Nepal’s Growing Brain Drain Crisis

By HP Timsina (an education practitioner and social advocate)

Kathmandu, 15 January 2026 — In a rented room in Kathmandu, nineteen-year-old Ramesh Shrestha scrolls through scholarship portals and visa requirements, not university prospectuses from Nepal. Once a top science student with aspirations of studying engineering at a public university, he has quietly abandoned the idea of higher education at home. His decision is not impulsive, nor is it rooted in disdain for his country. It is shaped by observation.

“I don’t see stability here,” he says plainly. “Classes stop, policies change, and politics enters everything — even classrooms.”

Ramesh’s story is no longer exceptional. Across Nepal, education has ceased to be a pathway for national development and has instead become a carefully calculated exit strategy. For tens of thousands of young Nepalis, schooling is no longer preparation for serving the country but training for departure. This shift reflects not individual disloyalty, but systemic failure — a failure driven by political instability, institutional decay, and the erosion of trust in public education.

When Politics Enters the Classroom

Education systems depend on continuity, long-term planning, and insulation from partisan conflict. Nepal offers the opposite environment. Frequent changes in government, rapid ministerial turnover, and inconsistent policy direction have made sustained educational reform nearly impossible. Decisions are often driven by political expediency rather than pedagogical need, turning education into a bargaining chip rather than a national priority.

Universities, meant to function as autonomous centers of intellectual inquiry, have become deeply politicized. Leadership appointments are routinely influenced by party affiliation instead of academic merit, undermining institutional credibility. Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest public university, has repeatedly suffered from leadership paralysis, stalled reforms, and administrative uncertainty. As Joshi (2025) argues, the university remains “unshackled” not by lack of talent, but by political interference that constrains its autonomy and vision.

The politicization extends beyond universities. Teachers’ unions and student organizations, closely aligned with political parties, dominate educational discourse. While collective representation is necessary, excessive political alignment has blurred the line between advocacy and obstruction. Curriculum reform, teacher evaluation, and accountability mechanisms are frequently delayed or diluted to avoid political backlash, further weakening educational standards.

The consequences are tangible. Nationwide protests and strikes have repeatedly disrupted academic calendars, reinforcing the perception that education is negotiable while politics is not. For students, this instability signals a deeper truth: their future is hostage to forces beyond merit or effort.

The Silent Exodus

Nepali youth are responding not with protest, but with passports.

Student migration has reached unprecedented levels. Between 2018 and mid-2025, more than 540,000 students obtained No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to study abroad (Rauniyar, 2025b). In just four years, 339,000 individuals were approved to leave the country for education (Rauniyar, 2025a). During this period, families transferred nearly NPR 500 billion for foreign education — a staggering outflow of national wealth that reflects deep disillusionment with domestic institutions.

In 2023 alone, over 100,000 Nepali students left the country for study abroad, marking one of the highest annual figures on record (Lamichhane, 2023). These numbers do not include students studying in India, suggesting the real scale of migration is even larger.

Behind the statistics lies a sobering reality: Nepal is exporting its most motivated, capable, and educated youth at precisely the moment it needs them most.

Why Students Are Leaving

The reasons driving this exodus are neither mysterious nor purely economic.

First, the deterioration of public education quality is undeniable. Many government schools and universities struggle with outdated infrastructure, inadequate laboratories, limited research funding, and overcrowded classrooms. Teaching methods remain largely exam-oriented, prioritizing rote memorization over critical thinking and practical skills. As a result, graduates often feel ill-prepared for both domestic and global job markets.

Second, political instability breeds career insecurity. In Nepal, professional success is widely perceived to depend more on networks, patronage, and political alignment than on merit. Students fear investing years of study into a system where performance offers no guarantee of opportunity. This perception erodes motivation and trust, pushing young people to seek environments where effort is more reliably rewarded.

Third, the domestic labour market offers little reassurance. Youth unemployment and underemployment persist even among degree holders. Graduates frequently accept jobs far below their qualifications or remain unemployed for extended periods, reinforcing the belief that education at home leads to stagnation rather than mobility (The HRM Nepal, 2023a).

Finally, Nepal struggles to reintegrate those who return. Foreign-educated graduates face bureaucratic hurdles in degree recognition, professional licensing, and employment. Instead of welcoming talent, the system often marginalizes it, silently encouraging permanent departure (Gyanwali & Bashyal, 2025).

Privatization Without Protection

As public education weakens, private institutions have flourished — but at a cost. Expensive private schools and colleges market “global standards” while reinforcing inequality. Education increasingly resembles a commodity: those who can afford it prepare to leave; those who cannot are left behind.

This unregulated privatization has created a two-tier system. Public institutions decline under neglect, private institutions profit, and the state gradually withdraws from its responsibility to provide quality education as a public good. The result is a cruel paradox: Nepal invests in educating children only to lose them at their most productive stage.

Enrollment declines across universities further illustrate this crisis. Nepali universities are witnessing shrinking student numbers as classrooms empty and confidence erodes (The HRM Nepal, 2023b). Education, once a foundation of nation-building, is increasingly viewed as a temporary stop before migration.

A High-Cost Chronic Disease

Brain drain is not merely an individual choice; it is a national wound.

Nepal is losing future doctors, engineers, researchers, and teachers. Universities struggle to retain capable faculty, weakening research output and innovation capacity. Critical sectors face chronic skill shortages, forcing reliance on underqualified labor or foreign expertise. Over time, this hollowing out of human capital undermines institutional strength and governance.

Economically, while remittances sustain household consumption, they cannot replace lost productivity, innovation, or leadership. Money sent home does not build universities, reform institutions, or strengthen democratic accountability. As Gyanwali and Bashyal (2025) note, unchecked brain drain limits Nepal’s long-term development potential and deepens dependency.

Socially, migration fractures communities. Villages lose young adults, families age without support, and social cohesion weakens. Over time, despair replaces hope, and leaving becomes not an exception, but an expectation.

Is This Disease Curable?

Yes, it’s not too late yet. It is reversible through reformation and revolution, particularly in the education sector. Migration itself is not inherently destructive. Many countries have transformed brain drain into brain circulation, leveraging global exposure to strengthen domestic institutions. Nepal, however, lacks the political vision and institutional capacity to do so.

Meaningful reform would require insulating education from partisan interference, investing in teacher quality and research, aligning curricula with labour market needs, and creating dignified employment at home. It would require treating education not as a political bargaining chip, but as a national priority.

Most importantly, it would require restoring trust — trust that effort matters, merit is rewarded, and the future is worth building within Nepal’s borders.

A Question Stakeholder and Concerned Authorities Must Answer

Nepal today faces a question more urgent than any policy debate:

Who is our education system really serving?

If it continues to function as a departure lounge for the ambitious, the nation will not merely lose students — it will lose its future.

Ramesh Shrestha will likely succeed abroad. The real uncertainty is whether Nepal can succeed without him.

References

Gyanwali, G. P., & Bashyal, K. (2025). Brain-Drain: Challenges and Opportunities in Nepal. SS Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2(1), 17–45. https://doi.org/10.3126/ssmrj.v2i1.86628

Joshi, P. R. (2025). Unshackling Tribhuvan University. The Kathmandu Post; The Kathmandu Post. https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2025/09/08/unshackling-tribhuvan-university

Lamichhane, D. (2023). Over 100,000 Nepali students went abroad in 2023. The Rising Nepal. https://risingnepaldaily.com/news/43044?

Rauniyar, R. (2025a). 339,000 individuals obtain NOC in four years. Nagariknetwork.com; MyRepublica. https://www.myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/339000-individuals-obtain-noc-in-four-years-6774c14ce62ea.html

Rauniyar, R. (2025b, June 3). Rs 500 billion spent abroad for higher education in seven years, 543,000 students obtained NOC. Nagariknetwork.com; MyRepublica. https://www.myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/rs-500-billion-spent-abroad-for-higher-education-in-seven-years-543000-stud-46-62.html

The HRM. (2023). Addressing the Problems of Brain Drain and Lack of L&D – The HRM Nepal. Thehrmnepal.com. https://thehrmnepal.com/report/addressing-the-problems-of-brain-drain-and-lack-of-ld/

The HRM Nepal. (2023, July 3). Nepali Universities ReelUnder Falling StudentEnrollment – The HRM Nepal. Thehrmnepal.com. https://thehrmnepal.com/report/nepali-universities-reelunder-falling-studentenrollment/

Times, N. (2023, April 17). Building blocks of a nation. Nepalitimes.com; Nepali Times. https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/building-blocks-of-a-nation