4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The education sector of Nepal is still developing, however, there are various impediments that are obstructing the progress of the sector. Some of the impediments are present in the form of cartels, degradation of the quality of education and the high cost of education. Despite the impediments, the demand for private schools have surged over the years. On the other hand, public schools have not been able to appeal to the general public in the same way. While the aim of the government was to maintain coordination and build a partnership between public and private schools to increase the overall quality of education; education being linked with social prestige has created a constricted view. This has diverted the main aim of the education sector. With the growing number of private schools along with the decreasing government commitment towards the education sector, associations such as PABSON and NPABSAN are gaining a massive foothold, emerging with greater influence. Many times the interest of individuals who have influence over these associations overshadow the interest of the whole sector. Along with this, they have also been able to challenge and resist the efforts of the government to tighten the privatization of education and bring in any reforms to the sector. If this goes on, the sector will not move in a positive direction where we might even encounter a situation where public schools collapse, resulting in decreasing government stake in the education sector. Given this, the education sector will move towards deregulation and the promotion of cartel. All of this has been negatively impacting schools, households and the nation as a whole, with a risk of these impacts exacerbating in the future. Based on the study, this report proposes the following recommendations for the government, schools and other concerned stakeholders to ensure the quality of education. However, there might be barriers to the effective implementation of the recommendations in the absence of a robust regulatory and institutional framework.
THE WORLD OF PRIVATE SCHOOL CARTELS
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