Policy without Preparation: A Critical Perspective on Teacher Readiness for Assessment Reform in the Primary Schools of Nepal

Abstract

In March 2026, Nepal's newly elected government introduced continuous assessment system to systematize internal examinations for students in grades 1-5. The decision appears to support the internationally accepted criteria for formative assessment: assessment for, rather than of, learning. This critical policy analysis examines whether Nepal's primary teaching workforce, particularly in Kathmandu's private and community school sectors, possesses the conceptual understanding and pedagogical competency necessary to operationalise this reform as intended. Drawing on critical policy analysis, the paper argues that the policy represents sound educational philosophy that is in its current form. However, three interlocking problems: a widespread misreading of the policy, a pervasive conflation of assessment purpose with certification function, and a teacher workload crisis, are identified as  responsive unsustainable cycles of formative practice. The paper argues that school's investment in teachers' professional development is being constrained by a rational but damaging calculus of retention risk. Thus, without deliberate, funded, and sustained capacity-building at the classroom, school, and system levels, Nepal's latest assessment reform will reproduce the fate of its predecessors: aspirational on paper, inert in practice.