Kathmandu, Aug. 26 -- If things had been normal, Sonika Sharma would have been in the final year of high school and looking forward to going to college.

Instead she is uncertain what the future holds.

The National Examination Board has cancelled the grade 11 exams which Sonika was supposed to take in April and told schools to conduct their own examinations. She has not heard anything about this from her school.

"This was supposed to be the last year at high school, but the academic session hasn't started yet and I am still stuck at my home," said 16-year-old Sharma from Kohalpur in Banke district.

In the meantime, she is relying on distance learning programmes provided by a local radio station to stay productive and motivated. However...