Amidst growing criticisms of global financial institutions, primarily the World Bank, this article explores their influence on educational programme planning in some of the impoverished nations known as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The domination of these institutions originates not only from their monetary power but also from the hegemonic ideas they spread: the theory of human capital and the technical-rational model have long guided educational programme planning. In the context of increasing control of educational governance by supranational organizations, this article explores how these ideologies are constraining the capacities of poor nations to make sovereign decisions and set their own educational goals and priorities. Nepal provides a special case. In recent decades it has faced policy changes because of two sets of conditions: those imposed by the World Bank and those resulting from protracted political instability following 10 years of armed conflict.