Equity and social justice have become key words in the discourses and policies of education reform. International development programs (e.g., Sustainable Development Goals) reiterate the need for creating and implementing inclusive and equitable education policies and plans, mainly in low-income countries. However, what is not much discussed in the field of international education is how language policy plays a critical role in creating (in)equitable school policies and practices. Drawing on the case of the ‘model school’ plan in Nepal, this study critically examines how the plan, supported by multilateral development agencies, as a major school reform project reproduces neoliberal ideologies that exacerbate social injustice. Using ‘critical language policy’ (Davis & Phyak 2017; Tollefson 2013), ‘critical policy sociology’ (Gale 2001) and ‘policing’ (Foucault 1977), I discuss how the modelling of public schools reproduces neoliberal ideologies that support the ‘erasure’ (Irvine & Gal 2000) of multilingualism while promoting the symbolic capital’ (Bourdieu 1991) of English. The analysis of ethnographic data shows that ‘model schools’ borrow English medium of instruction (EMI) policy from private schools and use both panoptic and post-panoptic surveillance strategies to police students’ language behaviours and punish them for speaking the languages other than English. Such language policing strategies not only violate students’ right to speak but also reproduce social injustices on the basis of epistemology, social class, and linguistic ability. Overall, I argue that education reform and development policies need to address local systemic inequalities to translate the rhetoric of equity and social justice into reality.