More than 68,000 people have applied for a free artificial intelligence (AI) training programme in Nepal that was originally announced for only 2,000 participants, and the authorities have now decided to take every applicant on board. According to the organising institution, over 42,000 applications were received in the first phase of registration, and more than 26,500 further applications arrived when the application period was reopened. With interest outstripping the planned intake more than 34 times over, the ministry said it has decided to include all aspiring youths who applied in the training. The figures were reported by Nagarik News.

Applications Pour In Across Two Phases

When the free AI training was first announced, it was framed as an opportunity for a limited group of 2,000 participants. The response, however, told a very different story. In the first phase alone, the organising institution received more than 42,000 applications, a figure that already dwarfed the number of seats on offer.

Rather than shutting the door at that stage, the organisers reopened the application period, allowing more aspiring youths to register their interest. The reopened window drew more than 26,500 additional applications, pushing the overall total past 68,000.

Key figures at a glance

  • Seats originally announced: 2,000
  • Applications in the first phase: more than 42,000
  • Applications in the reopened period: more than 26,500
  • Total applications received: over 68,000
  • Outcome: all applicants to be included in the training

Taken together, the two rounds mean that for every seat originally announced, roughly 34 hopeful participants came forward. Even the first phase on its own attracted more than twenty times the planned number of participants, making clear from the outset that demand would not be contained within the original limit.

Ministry Decides to Include All Applicants

Facing a response far beyond the scale the original announcement envisaged, the ministry said it has decided to include all aspiring youths who applied in the training. The decision effectively removes the 2,000-participant cap and commits the programme to accommodating everyone who registered, whether during the first phase or the reopened window.

Under the original plan, the overwhelming majority of the 68,000-plus applicants would have missed out, since the training was designed to serve just 2,000 people. By choosing to absorb the full demand instead of turning applicants away, the ministry has ensured that the effort made by every registrant, in either phase, translates into an actual training opportunity.

The move also transforms the scale of the exercise. What began as a training initiative for a few thousand participants must now be organised for a cohort of tens of thousands, a dramatically larger undertaking than first envisaged. How the enlarged programme will be organised in practice is yet to be detailed, but the ministry's position on inclusion is unambiguous: every aspiring youth who applied will be part of the training.

A Striking Measure of Demand for AI Skills

The turnout offers a striking measure of the appetite among young Nepalis for artificial intelligence skills. Applications continued to arrive in the tens of thousands even after the first phase closed, and the decision to reopen the window was itself a response to the early surge in interest. For the organisers, the episode demonstrated that a free, accessible entry point into AI training can draw a response far larger than its announced capacity.

The programme's free-of-charge format also shaped its reach. Because the training carried no cost, there was no financial barrier standing between aspiring youths and registration, and the applicant pool grew accordingly across both rounds. The ministry's description of the applicants as aspiring youths underlines that the opportunity resonated particularly with the country's younger population, the very group looking to build skills in one of the fastest-moving fields of technology.

The broader lesson from the registration drive is that demand for structured AI education runs far ahead of the supply of free opportunities. The speed and volume of applications, first in the initial phase and again in the reopened round, suggest that many young people were waiting for precisely this kind of accessible opening into the field.

For the more than 68,000 young people who put their names forward, the ministry's decision means the chance to gain AI skills no longer depends on being among the first 2,000 to apply. The programme, which began as a modest, limited-seat offer, will now extend to every applicant, turning a heavily oversubscribed announcement into an opportunity open to all who sought it.