Kathmandu, March 12 -- year-old Karuna Rawal, a student from Jumla, received her acceptance email into the Uunchai programme, she was overjoyed. Karuna's desire to discover the mathematics behind the ninja stars she made at home was fulfilled after she got a remote Nepali mentor and a team of six friends. At a young age, she was introduced to the concepts of mathematical modelling and intermediate origami shapes.

Uunchai is a six-week virtual project-based learning summer programme organised by the FountED Foundation in collaboration with student mentors from prestigious universities in the USA and Nepal, according to the programme's website.

A high school graduate, Salina Trital of Morang, has a different story. After studying science ...