Why Nepal's Education System is Failing Its Youth: A Broken IT Curriculum and the Unskilled Graduate Crisis

The Crisis: Degrees Without Skills, Youth Without Futures

It’s time we ask the hard questions:
Why are Nepalese graduates unemployed, underpaid, or ignored by employers?
Why is “studying abroad” the first choice for most students after SEE or +2 — and Nepalese institutions the last?

Why do employers say:

“Nepali graduates don’t meet our standards”?
“They have a degree but can’t do the job”?

The answer lies in what we teach — and what we don’t.

Let’s take one very real, very relevant example: the CTEVT Diploma in Information Technology.

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🎓 CTEVT’s Year I Curriculum – Diploma in Information Technology

Part I Subjects

Subject	Weekly Hours	Marks
Applied Nepali	4	100
Applied English	4	100
Engineering Mathematics I	6	100
Engineering Physics I	6	100
Engineering Chemistry I	4	100
Engineering Drawing I	4	100
Computer Application	4	100

Total: 700 marks — and only one actual IT subject.

Part II Subjects

Subject	Weekly Hours	Marks
Engineering Mathematics II	6	100
Engineering Physics II	8	100
Engineering Chemistry II	4	100
Workshop Practice I	8	100
Engineering Drawing II	4	100
Applied Mechanics	10	100

Again, not a single course on:

• Programming

• Networking

• Cybersecurity

• Web Development

• AI, Cloud, Data Science — not even basic software tools.

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🧨 What Kind of "IT Professional" Are We Producing?

Let’s be blunt:
This is not an IT curriculum — it’s an old-school engineering foundation repackaged under a modern label. And its result?

• A graduate who knows nothing about the actual IT industry.

• A "diploma holder" who cannot build a website, write a program, or secure a network.

• A mass of youth with no edge, no skill, and no chance.

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🔍 The Real-World Impact:

1. Unemployable graduates: Can’t pass interviews or technical tests.

2. Undervalued in industry: Not taken seriously, often offered only low-skill jobs.

3. Underpaid and underconfident: Living paycheck to paycheck, doubting their ability.

4. Mass exodus abroad: Bright students flee the country; Nepalese institutions become last resort.

5. No innovation, no tech ecosystem: We depend on foreign services, not local startups.

And this isn’t just CTEVT — this story repeats across universities and faculties in Nepal, in engineering, management, science, education, and health.

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🚀 What Needs to Change — Now

Let’s redesign technical education to meet reality.

✅ A Real IT Curriculum Should Begin With:

• Programming in Python, C, Java

• Web Technologies (HTML, CSS, JS, Git)

• Database Systems (SQL, MongoDB)

• Networking + Cybersecurity Basics

• Linux & Operating Systems

• Career Projects from Year 1

• Job simulation, freelancing, real portfolios

🔧 Then Offer Specialization Tracks:

Track	What It Prepares You For
Software Developer	Full-stack jobs, mobile apps, APIs
Data & AI Engineer	Analytics, machine learning, data tools
Cybersecurity Expert	Network security, ethical hacking
Cloud & DevOps	Infrastructure, deployment, server-side

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✊ A Message to Policymakers, Educators & Employers

This is not just a student's complaint — it is a national alert.

You must ask:

• Why are our graduates failing?

• Why are our industries importing talent?

• Why are our students flying abroad — and not returning?

📣 If you’re a policymaker reading this:
Reform now. Or risk losing another generation to unemployment and emigration.

📣 If you’re a student:
Don’t wait for the system — start building real skills today. You deserve better.

📣 If you’re an educator:
Push your institution to revise, update, and innovate. Your students’ futures depend on it.

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🗣️ The Final Word:

Nepal doesn’t suffer from a lack of talent —
It suffers from a lack of vision in how we shape that talent.

We don’t need more degrees. We need skills. We need professionals. We need creators, not crammers.

Let’s stop producing “average manpower” — and start producing the tech leaders of South Asia.

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📢 Spread This Message

This post is more than a critique — it’s a campaign. Share it. Tag policymakers. Talk about it in your classrooms, meetings, and communities.