Proficiency Levels

In 2017, the Government of Nepal (GON) set 45 correct words per minute as Nepal’s national reading benchmark. In 2021 and 2022, the GON undertook a process to revise the benchmark to describe several categories of readers and better reflect the actual status of early grade learning in Nepal. The revised benchmarks were not yet approved by the GON at the time EGRP II prepared its reports, so EGRP II used proficiency categories developed in 2020 for the National Assessment for Reading and Numeracy (NARN). The proficiency levels are defined below. The proficiencies graph shows the proportions of EGRP II students who fall into each proficiency category by grade. Use the filters to view the results by gender and language.

Reading Proficiency Levels

Low Reader — a student correctly reading between 0 and 14 words per minute.

Emergent Reader — a student correctly reading between 15 and 44 words per minute.

Fluent Reader — a student correctly reading at least 45 correct words per minute.