ELT Issues and challenges in Nepal

English has been grown as global language. It has been used widely in every sector such as in the field of science, technology, commerce and international relation. The English language has been taught for many years in Nepal. To glance it’s history, started when Rana people established durbar high school at Dakhchowk, Thapathali. At that time, they had invited two English teachers to manage the school and the curriculum design. Since then, though there were no strong government policy documents regarding teaching of English. The school level curriculum includes English as a subject. It has been taught as compulsory subject in the school from grade one.
Similarly, English language teaching has grown as a big industry and profession. In Nepal it is taught as a foreign language. For several reasons EFL instruction often does not accomplish its objectives and leaves students without an adequate level of proficiency in English. Despite its long history, it has some issues and challenges. Some of them can be mentioned below:
1. Lack of well-trained teachers.
2. Mixed ability classes.
3. Over-crowded large classes.
4. Poor physical facilities of the academic institutions.
5. Linguistically heterogeneous classes.
6. Inadequate professionalism in English teachers.
The major share of English language teaching in the world each in the hands of non-native speaker teaches and Nepal is also not an exception. Of course, the major issue is the EFL environment itself because there is an overall lack of English speakers for students to interact with. In Nepal the school level to university level are extremely crowed in such way that some students even do not get the seats. If there is no good sound management provisions and the teacher has to take every responsibility to manage the classroom. It is very difficult for the teacher to handle the classroom activities. In almost every classes, the number of students is at least more than 50. The students in the class are the different achievement and proficiency levels. Some can speak English and some cannot. At the same time language teaching is more challenging. It is not the content, the methodology is more important. The teachers get high stress but are paid low salaries. English language teachers are not getting the training according to the changes in the methodologies. Language teaching required an extensive amount of time, but the time provided for the instruction not sufficient. In Nepal most of the schools do not have listening materials like cassettes, CD player, etc. even teachers are not well trained to operate the new technology. The cultural and linguistic diversity of our country is another great challenge for ELT. The roles and status of the teacher and students are perceived differently in different culture. In Nepalese culture there is define distance between teachers and students. This type of practices may function as a barrier for smooth teaching. Similarly Nepal is country of linguistic diversity. Some languages are still advocating against expansion of English language properly. Many people think that the linguistic identities have been lost due to English. Therefore, maintaining a proper balance between English and other languages in one of the big challenges of the ELT. The globalization has brought English to all corners of the world and our country Nepal has also influenced by this language very much. Whatever the reason is, the condition or status of ELT in Nepal is still growing. Our government has bring new strategies for improve the academic and professional skill of untrained teachers.
The major problem of ELT in Nepal is the use of students’ mother tongue in the class. When a teacher makes his/her students practice in pairs or groups, some students start speaking their mother-tongue if the teacher is working with other pairs. In addition to it, some teachers who are used to using the GT (Grammar Translation) Method find it easy to use students mother-tongue in English classes. By the result, students cannot be exposed to English.
At last there are many challenges and problems in ELT in Nepal. But these problems can be solved in different ways. The teachers need to analyse the situations and find the apt solutions that can be properly used. Despite some problems, ELT situation in our country is, to some extent, satisfactory.