A critical rendition to the development of mathematics education in Nepal: an anticolonial proposal

Abstract

The history of mathematics education in Nepal had not been explored until the end of the twentieth century. After exploration, it was not included in mathematics curricula due to the invasion of western modern mathematics since 1853. It is quite disheartening that the students who graduated from the university remained ignorant about Nepal's mathematics education history. Against this background, the central purpose of this argumentative paper is to explore oppressive forces behind colonial meddling and envisage an alternative anticolonial proposal of the history of mathematics education. By using anticolonial critical lens as a referent, I offer four phases-classical humanists, multi-epistemic, neo-colonial, and critical discourse – by challenging the linear, neutral, and informative ways of reading and writing history. These phases incorporate Nepal's rich socio-cultural, historical, and political landscape, contribute to creating new discourses and perspectives in mathematics education, and thus reconceptualize a history of mathematics education as a means of transformation.