Surya Karki

Surya was born and brought up in poverty by a single mother in a village where education was a rare sight and schooling was a 2.5 hours walk to-and-from the school. He left his family and his village at 8 years old to study in the capital of Nepal and went on to study at the United World College of Venezuela, finished his undergraduate from the College of the Atlantic in Maine and his Masters Degree as a Schwarzman Scholars in China. 

At present, Surya is the Country Director and Co-Founder of the United World Schools in Nepal, and is responsible for leading the in-country team to ensure project development, government liaison and project innovation. Since UWS Nepal’s establishment in 2015, the organization has gone on from a simple idea to 34 schools and 5200 children who are hard at work to make education their ticket to a bright future.

Prior to UWS Nepal, Surya co-founded Bloom Nepal Schools – the only network of schools that provide interest based education. For his work in education and sustainable development, in 2014, he was awarded the Prince of Wales and UNILEVER Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneurs Award; in 2016, he was recognized as one of 30 under 30 International Literacy Association leaders; and in 2017, he was listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia.

Surya looks to dedicate his life to education and children, and is convinced that education is the only tool to get Nepalese out of poverty into sustained prosperity.