It is seen that many students are weak in the compulsory English subject as almost half of the students failed in the class 12 exam .
According to the public results released by the National Examination Board a few days ago, out of a total of 372 thousand 637 examinees, 1 lakh 1113 people got ungraded in English subject.
Most of the failed subjects are in English followed by accounting, social studies and fourth in Nepali language.
Teachers have said that there are many reasons for the failure of a large number of students in English and Nepali language, which are compulsory subjects, due to the education system, the new curriculum, the lack of seriousness of the students and parents towards the subject, and the coronavirus.
Where is the problem?
Experts say that although schools have emphasized on English language in recent years, the number of students who fail has increased as the upper grades go up.
They believe that since the students' reading style and the teacher's teaching style do not match from the primary level, it has affected the results of the 12th class examination and they have not been able to improve the results.
Mohan Ghimire, a teacher of Sriprabha Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Chaurideurali, Kavrapalanchok, says that if the students are in 9th and 10th class, the education sector is also affected due to the corona virus epidemic, if they do not get good marks in English or other subjects this year.
He told the BBC, "Due to the Covid epidemic, they were not able to take the board exam even in class 10. Even though the students who passed automatically did not take the exam seriously and especially did not work hard in English and Nepali, the exam results did not come well.
Kumari Lama, who has been teaching English at the Padmakanya campus, says that students in urban areas fail in the exams because of 'overconfidence' in English.
She believes that because they think that because they speak English, they will understand the language, they do not pay attention to correctness, including grammar, so they get very low marks.
'The curriculum has changed, the training is not according to it'
The teachers say that many students find the subject difficult now due to the change in the syllabus for English subject two years ago.
"The same curriculum was taught for almost 20 years and a new curriculum was introduced two years ago in which practical concepts such as listening, speaking, and writing were introduced, but there was no skilled manpower or teacher/teacher training to teach accordingly," said Lama, a teacher who has taught classes 11/12 for a long time.
The letter grading guidelines implemented from December 2078 stipulates that a minimum of 40 marks should be obtained in the practical examination and a minimum of 35 marks in any subject on the theoretical side.
They said that it was seen that many students got non-grade due to different evaluation in practical and theoretical.
According to the latest results, only 1,567 people have scored A Plus in English.
In theory, 1,567 got A plus, while in practical, 1 lakh 53 thousand 907 people got A plus.
She said that especially in urban areas, students think that English language is as easy as they can speak, so when they take the exam, they get non-grade.
“When it comes to English language, students don't pay attention in class, they never take notes and the grammar is not correct when they read the essay papers before the exam. Because of that, the numbers are low," she said.
'The foundation in English is not strong'
She thinks that in rural areas there are problems such as the absence of teachers, the weak foundation of students, and the fact that teachers are not trained according to the revised curriculum.
Teacher Ghimire says that students are not able to score well because there are many other problems in rural areas.
He has experienced that it is difficult to teach in both Nepali and English languages as most of the students understand only their own mother tongue.
Apart from that, Ghimire said that even though the students intend to go for foreign employment in an informal conversation, they do not pay attention to their studies.
Why low marks in Nepali language?
A large number of students have failed not only in English but also in Nepali language.
32 thousand 495 people have received non-grade in Nepali theory. Similarly, 17 thousand 754 people have failed in the optional Nepali.
The teachers say that since the students are not getting good marks even in Nepali language, from the parents to the students, they are ignoring this subject.
“Neither parents nor students think that they need to learn Nepali language. "We have not been able to create the appetite for Nepali language among students and parents," said Vimala Lamichhane, a teacher who teaches Nepali language in class 11 and 12 at Tika Vidyashram Secondary School in Lalitpur.
"Language should be developed from within the home first. Children do not agree to read Nepali books."
She believes that teachers are equally to blame for children's poor language skills.
"We teachers may also have weaknesses. Because we have not been able to develop linguistic skills. "The more we can't teach listening, speaking, writing, reading in the class, the weaker their language is," she said.
How to attract students to the language?
According to Abhi Subedi, a retired professor of English at Tribhuvan University, a survey has shown that when the English subject is taught entirely in English only, it becomes difficult for students to understand.
“There should be coordination in the curriculum and teaching methods for English subjects. While teaching, the teacher had to compromise a bit with the students and pay attention to how they understand,” Subedi told the BBC.
Subedi said that if the students do not understand when teaching only in English, the teacher should keep English as the main language and teach in Nepali as per the need.
Subedi said that in a survey conducted by a postgraduate student of English subject of Tribhuvan University, the school does not allow students to speak Nepali in the name of teaching English, they pay fines, make them stand outside the class and that practice is not right.
Subedi says that the survey conducted with many schools is authoritative.
Subedi thinks that the technical aspects of the Nepali subject are complicated and students whose mother tongue is Nepali have problems in grammar and writing.
A chance to retake a non-graded student
Those who get non-grade (NG) in two subjects get to take the grade increase exam immediately, while the rest have to wait for the next year.
This year, 1 lakh 23 thousand 396 students who get non-grade in two subjects will get non-grade on the 6th and 7th of October.
Since the government has implemented the non-grading system in class 12, only those subjects in which there is a failed or non-graded (NG) exam will be conducted.
