Rupandehi, Jan. 26 -- Farhan Ansari is a second-grader at Sirjana Basic School in Omsatiya Rural Municipality. The school incorporated English medium teaching a year ago. But Ansari cannot speak English, bar a few words.

"He can't read his English textbooks and is getting weaker at studies by the day," said Mohammed Ansari, Farhan's father.

Bhojpuri is the mother tongue of a majority of students in the basic school. The students were just learning Nepali after they got enrolled in the school. But with the incorporation of regular English medium teaching, students have found themselves trapped in between three languages.

But the problem is not faced by students alone. The teachers at the school, habituated in teaching in Nepali for year...