In 2000, there were more than 4.9 million students (more than 43% were girls), who accounted for more than 140,000 teachers (half were qualified teachers). There are 5 higher education institutions. The largest (about 6 thousand teachers, more than 140 thousand students, of which more than 60 thousand study in two-year courses) and the oldest (1959) is the University. Tribhuvan. 14% of students in Nepal study exact and natural sciences.
According to topschoolsintheusa, the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (established in 1982) is the main academic center for research in the exact and natural sciences. The Royal Academy of Nepal (founded in 1957) oversees culture, art, linguistics, history, and literature. The most important scientific centers are the universities of Nepal.
The art of Nepal was mainly associated with religious themes. The oldest stupas of Bodhnath and Swayambhunath (near Kathmandu), built in the 3rd century BC, have survived. BC. (later rebuilt). Their most characteristic detail is the “Buddha eyes”, looking at all four cardinal points (the “third eye” is located at the level of the eyebrows). Pagodas became widespread (some experts believe that pagodas appeared in Nepal). Some of the temples end with a “shikhara”. In the 15th-18th centuries temples were erected in Nepal, in which the features of Indian and Chinese art were bizarrely combined. The Pashupatinath complex of Hindu temples in Kathmandu is famous (construction began in the 13th century). Only in the Kathmandu Valley (included by UNESCO in the list of places of world cultural significance) more than 2,500 large temples and monuments have been preserved. Of the secular buildings, the Palace of 55 Windows (Bhaktapur, late 17th century) and the Singh Darbar Palace in Kathmandu (early 20th century) are of the greatest interest. Nepalese monuments, especially from the period of the 16th-18th centuries, are distinguished by unusually skillful woodcarving.
Many examples of ancient sculpture (from the 1st century), close to Indian art, remain. Initially, they were usually made of stone. After the 9th c. more and more bronze figures appear, usually depicting gods and heroes. Many works are made in the style of the tantric school. Most of the figurines are covered with a soft reddish patina. Medieval art reached its peak in the 15th-18th centuries, when bronze sculpture, which had almost completely supplanted stone sculpture, became even more perfect. There are also excellent examples of stone sculpture from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The earliest surviving paintings date back to the 10th-11th centuries. (miniatures of manuscripts). In medieval painting, the influence of the Indian (Rajput and Mongolian) and Tibetan schools (thangka) is noticeable. It also reaches its peak towards the end of the Malla dynasty. Modern painting, as a rule, is characterized by imitations of European and Indian schools.
Until the 15th century literature (religious texts) was created in Sanskrit. In the Kathmandu valley, during the years of the Malla dynasty, secular literature began to develop, especially poetry and dramaturgy. After the unification of Nepal, literature in the Nepalese language appears, but works in Newar gradually disappear. The poetry of Bhanubhakta Acharya (1812–68) and the writings of Motiram Bhatta (1866–96) played an important role in the development of Nepalese literature. In the 20th century the most significant literary phenomena were the poetry of L.P. Devkota (1909-59), Lekhnatha Poudyala (1884-1965), Siddhicharana Shresthi (1912-92), Madhava Ghimmire (born 1919), dramaturgy Bala Krishna “Sama” (Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana) (1902-81), prose B.P. Koirala (1914–82), the first prime minister to come to power after democratic elections. From the beginning 20th century Newar literature develops again.
