Nepe-ji, Pardon me if I misonstured some of your sentences. Ashu, I agree with you that callous arguments based on thoughtless "nationalism" do little to prove the merits of the cause they are fighting for. I hope I have not portrayed myself as such. I also agree with you that the choices to pursue vocational (or other) subjects should be available for students who are not able to excel in some compulsory subjects. However, language is one area that the students must be made to work on if they are to become effective communicators. What good would a carpenter, or a doctor, or an electrician be if s/he cannot articulate his ideas and thoghts well and communicate those ideas and thoughts effectively? Therefore, in the Nepali context, both Nepali and English (former being "sajha Nepali maadhyam" of communication and the latter being useful in the global context) should be pursued as compulsory subjects until high school, I think. High school level language courses do not necessarily have to focus on deeper literary aspects of languages -- college-level optional language courses can do that. But in order to hone the skills of effective communication, I think language courses (Nepali and English) must be made compulsory until high school, i.e. class 12. If the majority of the students are not doing well in ANY mandatory and necessary subjects, then the authorities should find ways to make teachign methods more effective and interesting, rather than abolish the subject all together from the mandatory list. Think about it. The same applies to math.