In this blog post, I attempt to examine the role of globalization in relation to the economy, language and natural environment.

Civilized man was nearly always able to become master of his environment temporarily. His chief troubles came from his delusions that his temporary mastership was permanent. He thought of himself as “master of the world, while fully failing to understand the laws of nature. Tom Dale and Vernon Gill Carter has mentioned in ‘Topsoil and Civilization’ – man whether civilized or savage, is a child of nature- he is not the master of nature. He must conform his actions to certain natural laws if he is to maintain his dominance over his environment. When he tries to circumvent the laws of nature, he usually destroys the natural environment that sustains him. And when his environment deteriorates rapidly, his civilization declines.

With this backdrop, I first attempt to examine the globalization with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based economic growth in the light of its aberrations and practical consequences. Let me begin with an example. We are trying to purify the Bagmati River in Kathmandu which was once a natural source of water for people dwelling in this valley. Over the years, population swelled in multifold along with the drive for urbanization, with the capital and technology – the drivers of globalization. Then water shortages ensued. Now, we are trying to turn the natural course of Melamchi River in order to fulfill the need of drinking water in Kathmandu. I have three unanswered questions in this process – first, isn’t it something like robbing Paul to pay Peter? Second, do we know the long-term impact of changing natural course of a river? Third, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) is the water distributing company in Kathmandu. Is it profitable for it to take care of the drinking need of other species in the valley because the river accessible to them is completely destroyed by human beings? If we extend the above example in international context we get the clear picture of what globalization is.

The present economic model is the more we consume, the more it helps to increase the GDP.   Cyclical consumption model is threatened by its negative impacts in the society such as resource depletion, water and air pollution, and destruction of natural habitat. At the one hand, this economic model has completely overlooked the impacts on other species (other than human beings) and natural environment around us. On the other hand, this model ends up storing or developing weapons of mass destruction as the result of so-called economic success because we are obsessed with power. Furthermore, the growing inequality created by the competitive model of business has no human face (Economic Development for general people is not only for the owners-inequalities produced by current economic model). For instance, the unemployment generated by automation which contributes to continuous wastages of natural resources. Throughout the human history we have never been out of war and natural calamities aggravated by human beings. I wonder why this so-called intelligent specie is always the source of destruction and I think we are at the tipping point once again.

The second example I am citing here shows the flip side of specialization. Nepal Government is developing a few eastern districts as a bucket area for the cultivation of cardamom. The farmers are being lured to planting cardamom replacing their regular food products in those remote areas. They have cash from sales of high value crops, but they have to depend on transportation (one of the main sources of globalization) of foods from other areas for their regular diet. It shows the flip side of specialization as there are two problems associated with specialization of agriculture sectors. The first is the issue of food security as it destroys the local food chain and the second is the value gap created by the change of consumption pattern as they have no local food. Further, the consumption of products of multinationals is normally known as increasing living standards or modernization.

When we turn into language and culture, MCDonaldization and mass productions are replacing local cultures and languages leading to acute poverty because the most local businesses depend on local culture. The rhetoric behind skill gap is clearly intended to further destroy the local and traditional businesses. The English speaking local students are being turned into international labor completely ignoring their need and contributions to the development of local society. English as a foreign language should be taught in the schools and colleges but, is it necessary to replace the native languages from schools in the name of English medium only? This one-sided language domination is clearly a long –term burden to the western societies because sooner or later they would realize that these half-caste (new breeds having desire to live in two worlds i.e. Anglicized vs. localized) English speaking generation cannot get jobs in western societies in the name of globalization.

The theoretical impossibility of globalization lies in its illogic that we have to create a global market. That means every country has power or right over the resources of the whole planet in order to supply stuffs all over the world. For example, As Nepal is known as a suitable tourist spot she has to build infrastructures to accommodate tourists of the whole world by being competitive. However the question that remains unanswered is – how much is adequate?

The whole concept of state welfare function is built on false premises which started after the French Revolution with enlightenment or rational thinking as means of modernization. But it ignored the relationship between human being and the natural environment and led people to believe that man can be independent of the plants and food or the nature. Diamond Jared in his book ‘Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed’ mentioned that the climate change is not a new phenomenon and lists out the eight factors (deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems, water management, overhunting, overfishing, effects of introduced species on native, overpopulation, and increased per-capita impact of people) that led to the collapse of past societies. He further added four other factors (anthropogenic climate change, buildup of toxins, energy shortages, and full human use of earth’s photosynthetic capacity) which may contribute to the collapse of present and future societies. All factors are the roots of destruction of natural environment.

We have had enough experiences that the apogee of highly industrialized state is to start decaying. We have observed the pre-eminent symptoms of collapsing civilization. None of the governments has choices to take unpopular decisions such as developing its own economic systems or to choose only those technologies which are sustainable considering its local economic, social and cultural environment. Climate change and inequalities are major concerns of almost all countries but we have not been able to address it in its entirety.

Mr. Wasti  works for Rural Education and Environment Development Center (REED Nepal), Pulchock Lalitpur in the capacity of the finance manager.

Nepal has never been a colony of another country, so its people here have not been imposed English in any way, as the case was in neighboring India during the British rule. However, English has strong influence on Nepalese elites (Kerr, 1999) ever since the British had contact with Nepalese people in the second half of the 18^th century. This post examines the texts relevant to influence of English on Nepalese society within the theoretical framework of POWER theory described by Guha (1997). It intends to provide a fresh perspective for looking at the socio-educational issues of Nepal in relation to English language in education.

Power theory

Guha (1997, p. 20) argues that power is a relational notion. For power to work in a society, there needs to be a dominant group and a subordinate one. The dominant group can exercise its power either by coercion or by persuasion. The subordinate group either resists or collaborates with the dominant group. If the sub-ordinate group resists, it takes the power or gets isolated. If it collaborates, it gets integrated with the dominant group.

In the case of English, power exercises dominance through persuasion and it does so in a variety of ways, such as by developing a favorable consciousness, legitimizing as right and just, and creating dominance through consent.

English in Nepal

In Nepal, the influence of English can be seen as having three historical eras: Era of colonial influence from 1767 -1850, Era of English education expansion from 1851-1990, and Era of English professionalism from 1990 to present. We can observe the different kinds of power that the English language has exerted in Nepal by analyzing its roles in different historical conditions, focusing on what the rulers tried to achieve by adopting and using English in education and society.

The era of colonial influence

English first entered into Nepal through the contact (both conflict and alliances) with the British people who colonized India. Nepal’s rulers quickly understood that they could educate their own children to create a special privilege and perhaps use the language to ensure their continued rule into the distant future. When Prithvi Narayan Shah, the king of Gorkha, attacked the Valley of Kathmandu in 1767, King Jaya Prakash Malla of Kathmandu asked the East India Company to support him to resist the aggression of Prithvi Narayan Saha. Responding to Jaya Prakash Malla, Captain Kinloch with a British troop (Levi, 1952) arrived in Kathmandu. That was the first contact of English-speaking people with Nepalese elites. When Nepalese army was defeated in Tibet in 1792, the Nepali king appealed the British in India to mediate with Chinese. Then, Kirkpatrick arrived in Kathmandu as special British envoy to Nepal (Bell 2014).Kirkpatrick’s arrival and his mediation started influencing Nepali politics. The East India Company signed a treaty with Nepali king Rana Bahadur Shah in 1801. This treaty allowed the British to have a permanent residence in Kathmandu. In 1802, Captain Knox took the office as a first British resident in Kathmandu (Bell 2014). The establishment of British residence in Kathmandu influenced the rulers of Kathmandu. The British residence also opened the way to western scholars, particularly British, to study the people of Nepal, which was not known to the west before.Some remarkable studies on this subject are Kirkpatrick(1811), Hodgson (1880) and Hamilton(1891).

After the Kot Massacre in 1846, Janga Bahadur Rana seized the power and became Prime-minister subjugating the power of king. Rana understood the power of British and maintained cordial relations with the southern power. He signed an agreement with the British in India. After the agreement, Nepali youths were recruited in British army to fight for the British Empire. He supplied soldiers to British Empire. These youths had formal education in English for eight years (Kerr 1999).In return he got many medals and a trip to London. (Levi, 1952). Back to Nepal, Rana established a school to educate the children of Ranas in English in 1853/54 (L.Stiller, 1993).He brought teachers both from England and Bengal. Hence, the first school of Nepal was an English medium school (Levi, 1952).The Ranas established school to impart western system of education in English because they felt access to English education would secure their elite position by providing their offspring with access to knowledge of English language and Western ways (Vir, 1988).They believed they could maintain the status quo and strengthen their own power base (Vir, 1988) in the future.

The era of English education expansion

When the Nepalese soldiers in British Army returned home, they were exposed to the life outside their national borders. This exposure made them aware of the power of western education, inspiring them to adopt it for their own families. Vir (1988) argues three factors contributed to this expansion. 1. After the twenty years service in the British Army, many of these soldiers tutored the youths of their villages. 2. The British Residents in Kathmandu Valley influenced the rulers and elite groups in Nepal. 3. The establishment of Durbar School in 1853/4 was a shift to modern system of education from traditional one. This school with its British and Indian teachers had impacts on the elite class of Nepal. Consequently, this class began to question the traditional values of society and began to accept western way of thoughts.

Gradually, this class constituted a power structure of Nepalese society and became the model for subsequent generations. After the Revolution of 1951, when Nepal had to modernize and formalize its education system, the planners of Nepalese governments based their recommendations on this model (Wood, 1977, p. 155).The Ranas preferred English education for their children because it enabled them to maintain their superiority. However, Chandra Shamsher modified the educational system as the British in India made basic education mandatory for the recruitment in British army 1912.In 1918, Tri-Chandra College was established to keep Nepali youth in the country and control exposure to superior Western ideas and technology (Vir, 1988). In this sense the establishment of Tri-Chandra College was to resist the western influence (Kerr, 1999).Tri-Chandra college was affiliated to Patna University, India

Consequently, Nepalese higher education was heavily influenced by Indian system of British India because the syllabus was directly borrowed from India and same assessment system was implemented.

As in course of time, higher education was expanded, more teachers educated in Indian universities were hired. This situation created a kind of feeling among the people that to be educated means to be fluent in English, the knowledge of vernacular languages was considered inferior to English and English was taken as a superior formal school education (Wood, 1977). This craze for English led to the popularity of English medium schools run by private sectors. This preference to English was because of the pro-British sentiment in post Rana-era (Shrestha 1993 as cited in Kerr 1998). However, Bista (1991) argues English was preferred because competence in English was seen as the passport to administrative positions in government. Pro-British sentiment was so strong that the removal of English from school curriculum (The All-round National Education Committee 1961-62) was criticized. By the early 1960s, English was able to influence the common middle class, beyond the elite as earlier (Wood, 1977).

All the factors mentioned by Crystal (1997) were at work for the hegemonic supremacy of English in Nepalese society. Crystal’s (1997) factors arehistorical tradition, political expediency, and the desire for commercial, cultural or technological contact when the public schools, which were modeled on the basis of schools in British India, did not meet the growing demand of English education. Kerr (1998) argues the model of a single system of vernacular schools did not meet the desired standard and quality of education of Nepali elite and as a result a separate system of private English medium schools developed. The massive proliferation of English through private English medium schools is the evidence of the strength of British influence in Nepal between1950 and 1970.

When Tribhuvan University was established in 1959, the notice of Nepal Gazette said, Nepali would replace English by 1974 as the medium of instruction in University (Malla, 1977).However, the importance of English in higher education is increasing and Nepali or any other languages of Nepal do not seem to dislodge English from Nepali academia.

The era of English professionalism

There are several factors that led to English professionalism. Malla (1977) mentions the following factors led to English professionalism in Nepal: the acquisition and transmission of scientific and technological knowledge, international communication, the acquisition of ideas and values necessary for accelerating the modernization process, reference language, library language and regional lingua franca. The Central Department of English (CDE) at Tribhuvan University played an important role for English professionalism. Policies of CDE, to a great extent, determines English professionalism in Nepal even today which are, in many respects, influenced by the experts e.g., the visit of Allan Davies in 1969 and Hugh D. Purcell in 1971. In most of the cases, these experts were made available by British Council and American Embassy. Hence, their service was in line with the ideology of these organizations. The course of English professionalism is also determined by the scholars who studied in the US or the UK under different scholarships. More recently, professional organizations like Nepal English Language Teachers Association (NELTA) and Linguistic Society of Nepal (LSN) have created similarly far-reaching influences on the English professionalism in Nepal.

Conclusion

In the history of English in Nepal, in the early stage, English was the source of power for the rulers. The Nepali elites collaborated with the British to gain power, and English was more symbolic than a real vehicle of power. In course of time, as the elite became powerful, it also adopted the western ideology through western education, hoping to maintain its power structure. In the next stage, the expansion of English education alongside technological advancement and globalization created a class, which could use English and western education in order to compete with the superiority of the elites. In fact, this new class eventually overthrew the earlier elites and continued to build on the power of English. So, the language and education of the west have been relatively politically neutral as far as direct outside influence are concerned. External forces have certainly played a role but the power of English—especially in more modern times—lies largely in the internal power structure that uses it for creating and advancing its advantages. As a whole, the role of English in Nepalese society is certainly in line with the universal hegemonic supremacy of English identified by Crystal (1997): historical tradition, political expediency, and the desire for commercial, cultural or technological contact. But the biggest role is played by those who can use English to support their political domination, to create a better education for themselves, and to take cream out of professional opportunities.

The author: Dr. Poudel is an assistant professor at school of education, Kathmandu University Nepal. (trpoudels@yahoo.com)

 References

Bista, D. B. (1991). Fatalism amd development: Nepal’s struggle for modernization. Hydrabad: Orient Longman.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global langauge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Guha, R. (1997). Dominance without hegemony: History and power in colonial India. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Hamilton, F. B. (1891). An account of the kingdom of Nepal.

Hodgson, B. H. (1880). Miscellaneous essays relating to Indian subjects. London: Truebner & Co.

Kerr, R. (1999). Planning and Practice: Factors impacting on the development of initial education in Nepal, with special reference to English language teaching, 1950-1995. Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne.

Kirkpatrick, W. (1811). Account of the kingdom of Nepal. London: William Miller.

L.Stiller. (1993). Nepal: Growth of a Nation. Kathmandu: Human Resource Development (HRD) Research Center.

Levi, W. (1952, December 17). Government and politics in Nepal: I. Far Eastern Survey , 185-191.

Malla, K. P. (1977). English language teaching Tribhuvan University. Vasudha, 16 (1).

Vir, D. (1988). Education and polity in Nepal: An Asian experiment. New Delhi: Northern Book Center.

Wood, H. B. (1977). Agents of education and development in Nepal. In C. J. Calhoun, & F. A. Ianni (Eds.), The anthropological study of education. London: Walter de Gruyter.

I have observed that many public schools are adopting English as medium of instruction (EMI) in Nepal for a decade. During my last visit to Solukhumbu in June, some school principals stated, with a great enthusiasm, that they are gradually replacing Nepali with English as the medium of instruction up to secondary level. Even though there is lack of research and case of studies to find whether such a shift is a boon or bane. It is already a disputed issue at both global and local educational discourses and policies. Based on my own experience, observation and theoretical knowledge, I, in this blog post, make attempts to analyze the EMI situation in Nepal with reference to some questions attached to it. I also suggest that a transitional model of language education is appropriate for multilingual country like Nepal.

Shifting into EMI

I have visited several EMI classrooms, particularly three under-resourced schools in my working areas for three times this year (2014/2015). What I found is, the primary motives of shifting into EMI are increasing students’ participation, enhancing quality of education and improving performance of the schools.

Many public school authorities are basically shifting their medium of instruction to English from Nepali in order to attract the large number of students who are now attracted to private English medium schools.

One of the school principals, Mr. Prabhu Ram Basnet, from Solukhumbu articulates his views this way:

English is a global language, and it functions as an international lingua franca. EMI helps students connect countryside with a global world and offers them boundless opportunities. In addition, it is the language of global business and technology. If I had not implemented EMI in my school, many children would have joined private schools. Still, we are not able to increase the number of students at primary level. The government has already cut off the teachers’ quotas for primary section due to less number of students. EMI is producing better results to increase enrollment in my school.

Public schools are also adopting EMI so that they can acquire more quotas for new teachers from the government. More strikingly, teachers take for granted that teaching in English helps students find job and participate in global community.  They also believe that students’ progress in the English language contributes to more access to information and knowledge.

Likewise, parents also consider EMI as a gateway to join a global academic and economic community. They think that English creates better academic and economic opportunities.

A guardian from the same area puts his views this way:

English is obligatory in this competitive world. I want my children to learn English so that they could receive better academic offers at national and international arenas. Ultimately, it leads to a quality to life. Therefore, EMI in school is a right approach now.

From the cases above, we can understand that both the teachers and guardians mean EMI leads to quality education. Whereas, there have been a lot of critiques regarding whether English when adopted as medium of instruction in the school contributes to quality education.

In the schools with EMI, teachers have to depend on the textbooks prescribed by the government alone. Sadly, there is not any support and teaching resources that can help the teachers to effectively conduct their classes in English medium. Very few teachers find EMI classroom pleasant and exciting in several content related subjects. Such teachers are either are from English language teaching background or novice ones. They love speaking English in the classroom most of the time.  They also invest more efforts to learn new words and phrases in English. On the other hand, most teachers who have been teaching in Nepali medium of instruction for decades in the past find EMI very challenging. They feel their schools adopting EMI has posed a burden in their profession. This tendency might hinder teaching learning activities. In this regard, a teacher from Southern part of Solukhumbu, asserts as below:

I am not confident enough to teach in English. I’ve been teaching in Nepali since last two decades. Now I am supposed to teach in English. Teaching in English is very challenging for me. I cannot update myself at the old age. Neither are we provided any intensive training that can support and facilitate the EMI.

Another observation, use of translation method that has once abandoned by English teachers with school level English textbooks written using communicative methods has a comeback  with the schools adopting EMI.  School teachers are largely translating English texts into Nepali language during classroom teaching.  While in others, teachers only use English. Here the paradox is, students can easily comprehend the contents delivered by the teachers using translation methods  but they cannot when the contents delivered by the teachers in English. During the interaction with teachers, they have revealed that they have not made any assessment to find whether the students comprehend their teaching in English. If the students fail to understand, the teachers are yet to come up with a proper strategies to help the students in case of failure. All the teachers do not possess required proficiency level in English. And they do not bother about learning English either. They argue that they give emphasis on content, not language while teaching subjects like mathematics, science and social studies.

Yet another revealing part of my observation, students are less involved in pair and group works. Neither are they found engaged in any types of project work as it is a must for learner centered approach. Generally, teachers introduce the lesson, talk to the students, explain the teaching items, translate them and provide little notes on the board. However, students’ progress in building English vocabulary is a noticeable phenomenon through EMI. They generally seem to enjoy the lessons in all subjects with EMI in the beginning even if they can hardly read and write about social studies and science lessons. Their enjoyment is finally detected during the assessment. It is evident from the cases of students who do not understand test items in English. When inquired, a student states as follows:

Sir (teacher) translates questions in Nepali, so it is very easy for us to answer in the classroom. But I found difficult to understand some questions during the examination when  teachers did not translate them in Nepali.

But some schools have been implementing CAS (Continuous Assessment System) to assess overall progress of students.  A teacher from Solukhumbu put her views in positive light as follow:

We have challenges in terms of proficiency level of English to implement EMI. Further, students from Rai and Tamang linguistic backgrounds find it hard to learn all subjects in English in the beginning. However, we assess students incorporating the parameters from CAS, such as students’ attendance, participation in classroom activities, behavioural changes, project work and so on. We discouraged paper pencil based test at early grades for two years. So I did not find a lot of problems to assess students.

The impact of EMI on learning

The brief background of EMI setting might not capture all other contexts, but it certainly sets a scenario of EMI implementation and its impact on broader educational practices in Nepal.  Parents and children have been influenced by the global academic and career offers, advancement of technology and access of information. They firmly believe that English opens the door to build a global networks, ties and relations. EMI has brought significant progress of students in English language being exposed to it and expressing the ideas in reading and writing in several academic subjects. However, comprehension part of the students is not clear. For instance, I did not find students performing drama in English. Neither were they involved in other creative activities in my working area. The learning achievement of these three schools has been increased by 6% in this academic year. However, the increased learning achievement might need further justification and statistics to see whether other factors or EMI alone contributes to this increase.

Teachers report that many students from early grades fail in mathematics, science and social studies because of sudden shifting into EMI. Their views reflect that students understand the content better in their first language. The other side of the impact is the growth of other national languages in which children are believed to learn and comprehend better than any other second or foreign languages. In many cases of EMI in Nepal, students are punished if they use their mother tongue inside classroom or school. They are forced to generate knowledge and internalize the meaning of content taught in English. It raises the question of cognitive development of learners. Hence, is EMI a medium of instruction for other academic subjects, or is it the sole objective at all? In a nutshell, the question of whether EMI is producing satisfactory learning outcomes still remains unanswered and needs further explorations.

Looking EMI into Back and Forth

When reflecting back to the history of medium of instruction policy, Jung Bahadur Rana, a powerful Rana Prime minister, established the Durbar (Palace) School after his return from Europe as he was greatly influenced by the use of English in the west. However, it was only open to members of the Rana family (Eagle, 1999). Thus, the first government-run school in Nepal practiced EMI. Likewise, the first post-secondary educational institution in Nepal, Trichandra College, opened in 1918 also practiced EMI. The government of Nepal showed interest in cultural unification only after 1950. The slogan of ek bhasha, ek bhesh, ek dharma, ek desh (one language, one costume, one religion, one nation) summarized the goals of the Panchayat government, which attempted to spread Nepali, Hinduism, and other symbols of nation throughout the country to create a unified national identity (Rai et al., 2011). Throughout the Panchayat era, the goals of education were to promote development through unification of the nation under one language and culture. Education in Nepali medium of instruction became accessible to common people instead of a privilege for elites with the goal of bringing the whole population into a unified national identity. (Weinberg, 2013). Thus, Nepali was the mandatory medium of instruction and all other languages including English were discouraged. After the restoration of democracy, many private English medium schools started EMI from grade one and public schools followed the same pattern.

There are questions regarding EMI implementation and the age of the students. At which age is EMI is to be incorporated? What is the justification in a way it is appropriate at grade one? What is the progress of students with EMI of different ages at different levels in relation to learning outcomes? These questions certainly need further inquiry. In addition, public schools do not have any definite guidelines to implement EMI. Policy only allows choosing English or Nepali.

The medium of instruction for school education shall be Nepali, English or both, whereas    primary education can be provided in the mother tongue (first language). Language (as a subject) shall be taught in the same language (CDC, 2008).

The policy does not have comprehensive arrangement and facilitation plans to support the schools that implement EMI.

Next element of the analysis is teachers’ English language proficiency level required for EMI. My observation shows that teachers are forced to teach through EMI in many cases. Many public schools have been implementing EMI policy without qualified teachers. It is entirely unclear what the requirements are with reference to English language competence. Many EMI teachers do not see themselves as English language teachers. They consider their job as a facilitator of students towards better learning content deliberations through better comprehension.

On the other hand, schools do not have any plan to teach students through EMI. Teaching through second or foreign language is entirely different issue from teaching academic subjects through the first language. As EMI concerned with language teaching pedagogy, there are questions that require further discussion. Are teachers, dealing with EMI, aware of foreign language teaching pedagogy in a multilingual context? Are they familiar with the process of communication through second or foreign language in the classroom? Is effective communication in English happening in those classrooms? In most instances, formulaic use of English is being observed. Students memorize the phrases and words, even sentences, most of the time. If the subjects to be taught do not have meaningful relationship with the outside world, learning cannot take place. How we can ensure effective communication taking place in the classroom in English among teachers and students in various academic subjects is a crucial issue in EMI settings.

The use of students’ home or community language is seen in all EMI schools I have observed. In many classrooms excessive use of Nepali has been observed. If the teachers are not proficient enough in English, they certainly use students’ home language. In this regard, what is the effect of using and not using L1 in the learning of the students? A clear guideline is indispensable. With reference to the teacher training, there has not been any uniform teacher training modality developed yet to assist EMI in Nepal. NCED (National Centre for Education Development), the apex body for human resource development at school education has not institutionally materialized the teacher training model for the EMI purpose. Neither there is any space for EMI in current TPD (teachers’ professional development) model of teacher training. It shows that EMI is not in priority of policy in the Ministry of Education. Furthermore, there are doubts on training manuals at theoretical ground designed and implemented for EMI purpose by several organizations in Nepal. For example, some training sessions are merely translation while others are full of pair and group works. Ministry of Education and its associate agencies need to think over a uniform teacher training model for the EMI purpose which can be a basis for training at different levels.

Similarly, many head teachers are found confused with which subjects to be taught through EMI. For instance, many private English medium schools teach social studies in Nepali medium while this subject is taught in English in public schools. The basis for decisions is not clear yet. The decisions are not based on the effectiveness of learning process and outcome from the medium of instruction implemented in schools.

Conclusion

EMI is unquestionably a growing phenomenon in public education in Nepal. It is assumed to be a passport to a global world. Despite the fact, 50 % students still fail in SLC and end up being a migrant laborer. It has been beneficial to improve the students’ English as it provides maximum exposure to them through speech, reading and writing in several subjects. EMI is thought to open the door of possibilities for lofty academic and economic offers at local and international level; nonetheless there are suspicions over how many students from public schools have this opportunity. Furthermore, EMI in Nepal is being very powerfully promoted, and the phenomenon is more idealistic in nature. However, it has been contested issue in Nepali academia for both political and pedagogical reasons. There are strong academic evidences that support multilingual education at both local and global educational policies. The most importantly, researchers have critiques on the weak pedagogical aspect of EMI in multilingual situation, particularly on the process of communication inside the classroom. EMI has been implemented without any logical guidelines in public schools. It is being implemented with little or no preparation and planning at all. The phenomenon is not effective in terms of its impact on students’ learning of several academic subjects.

The policy regarding EMI is not comprehensive, nor is it academically and practically desirable. It is more covert in nature leaving the things up to the market. The English language related policies and practices have been implemented without considering the educational costs and benefits in Nepal. The sole logic behind the current shift is globalization and market forces. Thus, EMI has also been a key selling point in the market in the guise of the ideology of quality education, which at present remains a myth. It has been projected as a commodity in the market. But very few students have access to the global and local market resources available in English.

Incorporating a foreign language at the early foundation of education is not academically sound policy. Nepal needs to formulate multilingual model of the language policy and planning. Whereas, EMI planning needs to be guided by the transitional model- from local language to official language to international language from early grades to university level.

References

CDC (2008), Curriculum Development Centre, Sanothimi Bhaktapur.

Eagle, S. (1999). The language situation in Nepal. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 20 (4-5), 272-327.

Rai, V. S., Rai, M., Phyak, P., & Rai, N. (2011). Multilingual education in Nepal: Hearsay and reality. Kathmandu, Nepal: UNESCO.

Weinberg, M. (2013). Revisiting history in language policy: The case of medium of     instruction in Nepal. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 28(1), 61-80.

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The author is a training specialist in English at REED Nepal and an adjunct faculty in Tribhuvan University, Nepal.