Kathmandu: At a time when Nepal’s universities are being urged to deliver quality education and industries are encouraged to create opportunities to retain the country’s youth, a significant amount of capital has continued to flow out for foreign studies. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank, in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Rs 64.15 billion has been spent by students pursuing education abroad.

Rising Travel and Education-Related Expenses
The central bank's data also shows that overall travel spending under the service category increased by 10.6 percent during this period, amounting to Rs 115.88 billion. Of this total, the education sector alone accounted for Rs 64.15 billion.

Despite the massive outflow this year, the figure is slightly lower compared to the same period last fiscal year, when Rs 66.64 billion was spent on foreign education.

Declining Net Service Income
In addition to the growing expenses for education and travel abroad, the country’s net service income has suffered a decline of Rs 50.22 billion in the same seven-month period. This points to an increasing gap between service-related income and expenditure, raising concerns about Nepal's economic sustainability and the urgent need for systemic reforms in the education sector.