Is English medium instruction working? A case study of Nepalese community schools in Mt. Everest region

English as the Medium of Instruction (EMI) is recognized in private schools in Nepal since they were emerged, whereas community schools have been teaching English as a foreign language. Now, there is an increasing shift towards EMI to teach academic subjects such as Science, Social, Mathematics etc. in community schools though there is no ‘EMI guidelines’ to systematize it. This reflects the observation of Dearden (2014) who asserts the shift as a fast-moving worldwide trend. This study is grounded in the similar situation of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) region. From where four schools were selected as samples and head-teachers, teachers, parents, students and trainers were selected purposively for interview. The research based chapter will discuss the critical analysis of the findings. One of the major findings indicates that there is high demand of English for tourism business and the community is highly influenced by private English medium schools. It is explored there is an increased enrollment and decreased students transfer in the schools due to EMI. Nevertheless, expressing in English is hard for students, which has resulted descending performance in exams. Similarly, their local languages are not developed well. Likewise, lack of qualified manpower and learning resources are major challenges to succeed EMI. Although some privately funded teachers, where the fund is uncertain, are appointed to sustain EMI, the results indicate longevity of EMI is uncertain. The chapter will explore issues for further research and it will provide a moment for the participants to (re)consider the implementation of EMI in different contexts.