Kathmandu, Aug. 23 -- The government's attempt to overhaul Nepal's school education system has run into competing demands from local governments, private school operators, teachers and educationists. Replacing a law enacted more than five decades ago will require resolving those divergent interests.

The Ministry of Education and Sports has begun drafting a new School Education Bill after completing consultations across all seven provinces. Stakeholders who took part in the process have called for free and compulsory education to be implemented, local governments' constitutional powers to be protected, private investment to be safeguarded, and teachers' working conditions to be improved.

The proposed legislation is intended to replace th...