The Government of Japan has decided to extend a grant assistance of three hundred million Japanese yen (¥300,000,000), which is equivalent to or approximately two hundred forty nine million and nine hundred thousand Nepalese rupees (NRs 249,900,000) to the Government of Nepal consecutively for the 2nd year for School Sector Reform Program (SSRP) of Ministry of Education. In this context, an Exchange of Notes (E/N) was signed and exchanged on July 10, 2015 between His Excellency Mr. Masashi Ogawa, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, and Mr. Suman Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of their respective Governments amid a function held at the Ministry of Finance in Singhadurbar. On the same occasion, the Grant Agreement was signed and exchanged between Mr. Madhu Kumar Marasini, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of Nepal and Mr. Tsutomu Shimizu, Chief Representative of JICA Nepal, on behalf of Japan International Cooperation Agency.
JICA has also been expanding its assistance after the great earthquake struck in Nepal on April 25, 2015. In response to the request of Government of Nepal, JICA is extending a follow up cooperation grant to rehabilitate steel framed schools assisted by JICA in Dhading and Gorkha, which were damaged by the recent devastating earthquakes. Furthermore, with the request of Government of Nepal, JICA has made commitment of extending a loan assistance of fourteen billion Japanese yen (¥14,000,000,000) for the reconstruction of school buildings damaged by the recent earthquakes.
Under the global commitment of EFA (Education for ALL), JICA has been cooperating in education. JICA has built more than 9,000 classrooms in Nepal through Grant Aid supporting the Government of Nepal’s commitment in achieving universal primary education for all children by the Year 2015. In the same way, JICA has been implementing a second phase of Project for Support for Improvement of Primary School Management (SISM) 2 since 2013 aiming to disseminate in all 75 districts in line with the government plan of SSRP in collaboration with Department of Education (DOE). This project intends to enhance school-based management system through active participation of all community stakeholders comprising of School Management Committees (SMCs), teachers, parents and students. The first phase of SISM was implemented from 2008 to 2011 under the Technical Assistance of the Government of Japan.
JICA has also dispatched education experts to the Department of Education to share Japanese expertise in education sector. As education is vital foundation for all kind of economic and social development of a nation, JICA’s commitment for supporting the education sector in Nepal will remain firm. JICA joined the pool funding from 2014 along with core development partners to assist the Government of Nepal in the implementation of the SSRP in a holistic approach.