The Nepali government has started streamlining public schools by categorizing them and providing adequate funds to improve their quality, local media reported on Sunday.

The Education Ministry has intensified categorization of schools based on "school accreditation forms" provided by the Department of Education (DoE), the Himalayan Times reported.

According to the daily, the government has planned to complete the categorization of 4,000 public primary schools across the country this year.

The schools will be accredited based on three major criterion -- physical and instructional facilities, accountability and transparency, and schools' overall performance.

The schools will be categorized "A", "B" and "C" and those who do not meet any of the indicators will fall in category "D".

Janardan Nepal, director general at the department, told the daily that the basic idea "is to assess the quality of public schools and improve them simultaneously."

"As soon as the schools are categorized by the district education committees based on accreditation committee's report, the government will provide them funds to improve their quality and infrastructure as recommended," Nepal was quoted by the daily as saying.

The schools will be given block grant, conditional grant and incentive grant based on the category. For example, the schools under category "A" will be provided incentive grant to encourage them to keep up the good work, while those who fall in category "D " will be provided with block grant as well as conditional grant so that they could enhance their quality.

The government started the program last year with 850 schools as a pilot project but it did not yield desired results, as it was not compulsory.

Source: Xinhua