Mahabir Pun: From Himalayan Highlands to Nepal’s Education, Science & Technology Minister
Mahabir Pun was born on January 22, 1955, in a remote village named Nangi, in Myagdi District in western Nepal. Perched highly in the Annapurna region, Nangi had no roads, no electricity, and only a small school with very few teachers and outdated materials. His father, an ex-Gurkha soldier, knew exactly that education would be the only way for his family to escape the curse of poverty, and he made his children go to school despite the family surviving through hardly anything.Â
Mahabir used to trek for hours in rough terrain every day just to attend classes, and oftentimes he studied without even paper and textbooks. Such experiences left an imprint on his mind and shaped his lifelong belief that education should reach every child in the world without caring for geography and income. The early struggles in the mountains created stamina in him and convinced him that technology would one day bridge the country’s geographic barriers.
Education Abroad and the Spark of Innovation
A scholarship award to the University of Nebraska at Kearney in the US was the turning point in the life of Mahabir, who had finished secondary school and was teaching in an allied school to help his family. He gained a bachelor’s degree in Science Education and a master’s degree in Educational Administration. During these years, in the late 1980s, he experienced computers and the internet for the first time. He eventually got to know the transformative power of digital technology and urged himself that if he could somehow bring similar things to rural Nepal, it would dramatically change the life of villagers who have already been cut off from the modern information age.
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Bringing the Internet to the Himalayas
Returning to Nepal in the 1990s, Mahabir devoted himself to the ambitious task of connecting remote villages to the internet. In the early 2000s he launched the Nepal Wireless Networking Project, an initiative that combined donated computers, homemade antennas and solar power to bring internet access to Himalayan communities that had never even seen a telephone line. Over the next decade, more than 175 villages gained reliable online connections.Â
Schools began using e-learning programs, health posts offered telemedicine consultations, and small businesses found new markets. What began as a dream carried back from America became a nationwide model for how technology could leap over the obstacles of geography.
Founding the National Innovation Centre
The success of the wireless project inspired Mahabir to carve out a permanent home for research and development within Nepal. He founded the National Innovation Centre (NIC) in 2012, where young scientists and entrepreneurs could work on real solutions to local issues.Â
The teams at NIC work on a variety of projects- drone technology, biomedical devices, renewable energy systems, and agricultural machinery. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that the Centre made some international news, with its engineers retrofitting and even manufacturing ventilators for hospitals at a time when imported units were unavailable. NIC soon began to serve as a landmark for what Nepalis can achieve when creativity and community spirit come together.
Author and Storyteller
Mahabir Pun is an exceptionally talented storyteller. His Nepali-language autobiography “Mahabir Pun: Samjhana, Sapana Ra Aviral Yatra” (Memories, Dreams and an Unstoppable Journey) became a publishing sensation in 2024. The story describes his childhood in Nangi, studies in the US, technical and financial hurdles of building the wireless network, and creation of the National Innovation Centre. Selling over 150,000 copies netting revenue of more than 90 million rupees-in the first year alone, which Mahabir donated entirely for funding NIC projects along with this the autobiography is also available as an audiobook on the Momo app, narrated by Mahabir himself so that listeners hear about his journey in his own voice.Â
An earlier English-language biography, “Mahabir Pun: Connecting a Village to the World,” written with international collaborators, was Medha’s introduction to the world and attracted support for his innovation campaigns.
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A New Role in Interim Government
The public service was entered by Mahabir Pun on September 22, 2025, with his appointment as Minister of Education, Science & Technology, in the interim government led by Prime Minister Sushila Karki. Traditionally accepted benefits would not apply while accepting the post and in fact, he broke the convention while doing so. He declined to occupy any official residence or make use of even one government car for personal use while minimizing the security detail to a bare minimum, saying he wanted to devote any resource saved to education rather than comfort.Â
He invited citizens to send him ideas along with concrete policy proposals rather than ceremonial garlands, indicating action-oriented and transparent leadership.
Challenges and Vision as Education Minister
The minister has many problems. First, the education system has complete inequalities between urban and rural areas. Secondly, research funding is inadequate; third, the curriculum often does not prepare students for the requirements of a modern economy. He has long been an advocate for at least one percent of the national budget reserved for scientific research and technological innovation and has promised to direct such funds toward STEM education, his new digital infrastructure, and incentives for young inventors.Â
He supports free education but insists on reforms that are realistic, sustainable, and free of corruption. The aim is to create a scenario in which equal digital access would be created for rural children, where science and engineering drive national advancement and domestically capable answers replace dependence on foreign technologies.
Recognition and Ongoing Projects
Mahabir Pun became famous internationally for his numerous achievements, which include being bestowed with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership, being honored in the Internet Hall of Fame, and receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nebraska. But for him, the work on the ground never stops. Under his leadership, the National Innovation Centre recently revived Krishi Aujar Karkhana for which the agricultural tools factory in Birgunj was long defunct and which exists today to manufacture ploughs, pumps, and other equipment for Nepali farmers. NIC is still incubating projects ranging from electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions to telemedicine platforms and advanced agricultural tools, indicating that he believes innovations should serve everyday needs.
Legacy and Continuing Journey
What Mahabir Pun represents is the power of education, perseverance and community-based technology. From having spent his childhood, trekking the mountain trails to connect to a distant school, he stands as a global figure who brings the world to Nepal and Nepal to the world. Mahabir shows through his bestselling books, pioneering internet projects, the National Innovation Center, and currently the Ministry of Education leadership, that one man with vision and willpower can forge a new path for a nation. His path from the Himalayan highlands to the highest seat in the government stands as a case study of how innovation and integrity can pave the way for lasting change.
Mahabir Pun’s may be that extraordinary life that continues to inspire not only Nepalis but anyone who believes that education and innovation can solve the greatest problems. His next incarnation, as a policymaker, possibly will be the most transformative stage.
