Mathematics anxiety in students seems to be one of the most common phenomena in mathematics teaching and learning worldwide. However, mathematics anxiety induced through the verbal behaviour of other people is an understudied area in mathematics education. This paper aimed to investigate the influence of the verbal behaviour of older people on the students’ interest and choice in studying mathematics. Ten grade-nine students studying in a high school in Kathmandu participated in semi-structured interviews. A descriptive qualitative research design, followed by a thematic analysis of the data through primary, secondary, and tertiary coding, identified four major themes related to the verbal behaviour of elders that induced mathematics anxiety in the students. These themes were discouragement, abuse, fear, and dilemma due to adults’ verbal behaviour when choosing mathematics as an optional subject in high school. The study results have educational implications in terms of the way teachers and parents express their viewpoints and interest in mathematics and related subjects may affect students’ interests and attitudes toward mathematics.

The various concept in education such as “Education for All (EFA)”, “Equity in Education”, “Inclusive Education” are the burning issues as well as implementation complexities in today’s education system in developing countries. Stepping on these issues, this article focuses on seeking equity in education in the Nepalese community schools. Education for all is an ongoing process in globally. Under the national and international education framework, Nepal is on the process of implementation of the School Sector Development Program (SSDP). But, equity in education is still far behind for some groups of students. Here, this study intends to focus on, one of the similar groups of students, who are living as domestic-worker and continuing their study at the school level. This study tries to throw light on the learning-struggle of a particular group of students in Nepali community schools. The study is based on the experiences of 7 domestic-worker students (DWS) and 3 teachers teaching them. The DWS faced numerous labor exploitation problems in the workplace and school premises.