Abstract
Despite being a multilingual nation with 123 languages, Nepal has historically overlooked
education in minority languages. Consequently, a large proportion of the country’s population,
which is composed of ethnic minority groups, is out of school. This pilot study examined the
perspectives of language policy scholars, language activists, and community leaders on the
medium of instruction policy and practice and the implications for multilingual schooling in
Nepal to fill the current gaps in literature regarding the multilingual education. The current
analyses of qualitative interviews among six participants revealed the lack of clarity on the
purpose of multilingual education and the definition of mother tongue among participants
themselves even though all participants agreed that multilingual education would be beneficial
to linguistic minority students. The study also uncovered that Nepal’s bureaucracy had been the
main hurdle for implementing the existing multilingual schooling policy despite its vital role in
enhancing educational development in the country. Finally, despite their wide range of
backgrounds, the study’s participants seemed to represent different organizations and forums
therefore represent the same views and interests, implying that they prevent new visions and
voices regarding the multilingual schooling in the country. This study is important to navigate
the insights into existing multilingual policy and practice in Nepal and to project the future of
multilingual schooling. More importantly, this study encourages more research at policy level,
which is responsible for devising robust policy and plans of actions for the success of
multilingual schooling in the country.