For a sizable number of young students, English is quite hard to crack, as the recently-published results of grade 12 show. Out of 448,837 students, a whopping 109,527 got non-graded (NG), in the words of the National Examination Board (NEB). In plainspeak, almost a quarter of the grade 12 examinees failed their English papers as they could not even score 35 percent.
It has been years since schools—not only private and boarding schools but community and government schools also—adopted English as a medium of instruction. Many private and boarding schools do not even allow students to communicate in languages other than English on their premises.
Against this backdrop, ApEx talked with students and experts to better understand this below-par performance—not only of individual students, their parents and teachers but of the country’s education system.
“I attempted all the questions but still failed my English exam. To be frank, I find grammar quite hard. I will now be taking tuitions to improve my grades,” says Aditya Paudel, one of the students.
Paudel is one of the 123,396 students eligible for grade increment exams to be held on Sept 23 and 24. Only after clearing these exams will they be eligible for pursuing college education.
The experts point out that lack of reading and writing culture among students, lack of patience and lack of government policies are some of the factors that have made English a ‘difficult’ subject for many students. The lack of government policy in orienting both the teachers and students about the topics, teaching materials and methods has hampered English teaching and learning big time.
Lack of patience and motivation among students, lack of infrastructure and lack of access to latest technologies have not helped, either. Old methods of teaching, lack of interest in students, lack of growth opportunities for teachers and workload are some other problems in English teaching and learning.
“Teachers possess scant knowledge on ways to teach the topics/chapters. Orienting teachers on teaching methods will benefit both teachers and students,” says Motikala Subba Dewan, president of Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association. The government should develop a handbook of teaching materials to help with English language teaching.
“Some schools have made it compulsory for the students to speak English on their premises. It is not the right to control the use of the medium. Use of Nepali, mother tongue mediums and English will help students understand the subject matter better,” says Professor Dr Abhi Subedi.
The education institutions should be transformed into centers of learning (in a true sense) and a task-based approach used to improve the command of the language. The experts suggest assigning tasks to students by forming peer groups for positive outcomes. They have some suggestions for teachers too. The teachers should teach properly and complete the courses on time to help students clear their exams, they say.
These days, students have unfettered access to English via the Internet. If used skillfully, this medium can help students brush up their English. Subject teachers should motivate the students to make use of this medium to polish their English and perform better in their exams, suggest the experts.
What’s more, the experts suggest improving the English teaching environment for better results. “It should be taught naturally,” says Subedi.
Prescriptions aside, who will help out the students in need is a moot question.
