Education

For families, education is usually the decision that determines where in Kathmandu you live. The international schools cluster in a few areas, and the commute across the valley is long enough that most families choose a home near the school rather than the other way round. Decide the school first, then the neighbourhood.

For how Nepali education is structured - the SEE, +2, community versus private schools - education covers it. This page covers the foreign family and the foreign student.

Schools for foreign children

Three tiers are realistically open to you:

International schools follow British, American or IB curricula, teach in English, and serve diplomatic, development and business families alongside Nepali families planning on foreign universities. Fees are in a different bracket from everything else in the country, often quoted in US dollars. Places in popular year groups fill early.

Established private English-medium schools follow the Nepali national curriculum in English, cost a fraction of international school fees, and work well for younger children and for families staying several years. The transition back to a foreign system later needs thought.

Community schools teach largely in Nepali and are not a realistic option for a child without the language.

The school directory lists established institutions.

Admission

Expect to be asked for:

• The child's passport and visa
• Previous school reports and transcripts, often requiring attestation
• Birth certificate
• Immunisation records
• Transfer certificate from the previous school, which some systems issue only on request
• An assessment or interview, depending on the school and year group

The transfer certificate and attested transcripts are the slow items. Request them before you leave your current country - obtaining them afterwards, from abroad, adds weeks.

What it costs

Indicative annual fees for 2026. International school fees are often quoted and charged in US dollars:

	Annual
Established private English-medium school	150,000 – 500,000 NPR
International school	Substantially higher, frequently in USD
Nepali university, foreign student	Varies by faculty and institution
Nepali language course, group	Modest, by the month
Private Nepali tutor	Inexpensive by hourly rates elsewhere

Ask what the fee excludes. Admission charges, transport, meals, uniforms, examination fees and capital levies are frequently separate and add meaningfully to the headline number.

Younger children

Pre-school and daycare provision exists in the areas where foreign families cluster, and domestic help - including childcare - is affordable and common here in a way it is not in most Western countries. Many families employ someone part-time.

If you do, treat it as employment: agree the hours, the pay and the leave in writing, and understand that the relationship is governed by the same labour framework as any other. Jobs covers the basics from the employer's side.

The academic year problem

Nepali schools follow the Nepali calendar and generally start around April, while most international schools follow an August or September start. A child moving mid-year from a September system into an April system may repeat or skip part of a year depending on the school's judgement.

Discuss this with the admissions office before you move, not after you arrive. It is the single most disruptive detail for families and it is entirely manageable if raised early. Life in Nepal explains the calendar underneath it.

Studying at a Nepali university

Foreign students are admitted to Nepali universities, most visibly in medicine, Buddhist studies, Nepali language, development studies and Himalayan subjects, where the country has genuine specialist standing.

The route is consistent: apply to the institution, receive an admission letter, obtain the relevant approval, and apply for a student visa on that basis. The visa is tied to enrolment and renewed alongside it - residence covers the category and its renewal cycle.

The university directory lists the institutions.

Learning Nepali

Worth more than almost anything else you can do in your first year. Language schools in Kathmandu run courses from intensive short programmes to weekly evening classes, and private tutors are inexpensive and easy to find.

Even a few months changes how you are treated in the places that matter - a ward office, a hospital reception, a landlord's family. Nepali language covers the options.

Qualifications in both directions

Foreign qualifications need formal equivalence recognition to be used for employment or further study in Nepal, handled through the relevant university or board. The reverse applies too: Nepali qualifications presented abroad usually need attestation.

Neither is fast. Both are predictable if started early. If there is any chance you will need either, begin before you need it.

Where this goes wrong

• Choosing the house before the school. Valley traffic makes the reverse order expensive.
• Arriving without attested transcripts. Getting them from abroad afterwards takes weeks.
• Not raising the April start date. It determines whether a child repeats a year.
• Assuming a place is available. Popular year groups at the international schools have waiting lists.
• Leaving equivalence recognition until you need it. It is slow, and it is needed suddenly.

Where to go next

Moving to Nepal sets the arrival sequence, and housing covers choosing where to live once the school is decided.

Choosing a school, practically

The variables that actually narrow the choice, in order.

Curriculum, because it decides what a child can transfer into later, which matters enormously if you may move country again. The real total fee for a year, including admission, annual charges, transport, meals, uniform and examinations. The commute, measured at the hour you would actually do it. Language support for a child arriving without Nepali, or without English in an English-medium school. Whether you can visit a class in session, which good schools allow and which tells you more than any prospectus.

International schooling is effectively concentrated in the Kathmandu valley, which is a real constraint on living elsewhere with school-age children.