1. Girls' Transitions to Work through Higher-Quality TVET Programs in Nepal. Echidna Global Scholars Program, Policy Paper
- Author
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Brookings Institution, Center for Universal Education and Paudel, Anil
- Abstract
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is widely considered an important tool in strengthening the school-to-work transition, reducing poverty, and achieving economic growth. However, significant barriers prevent girls in Nepal from realizing such opportunities. This paper, drawing from field research and desk review, identifies three major factors--education, the labor market, and social norms--underlying why girls are not able to leverage TVET to their advantage. Overall, an underemphasis and underinvestment in TVET by families, schools, government, and the private sector pose the greatest challenge to improving girls' participation in TVET and thus to girls' transitions to work. Based on my study and professional experience working to enhance the right of children to education, this paper provides policy recommendations for government, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations to improve girls' participation in TVET in order to improve their labor market outcomes and life prospects. The recommendations are concentrated in three different areas: improving girls' "access" to TVET programs, enabling their "completion" of TVET programs, and facilitating their "transition" to work. Increasing investment in TVET--along with creating a gender-transformative approach that enables females to participate more fully in both TVET programs and the labor market--would meaningfully help to realize the promises of education in Nepal.
- Published
- 2019