Global Math Debate League concludes national round

KATHMANDU: The Global Math Debate League concluded its National Round in Lalitpur on Saturday. The event completed a multi-city rollout that organisers said establishes Nepal’s first structured academic circuit devoted to debating mathematics rather than only solving it.

Organised by education group Embark UnMath, the competition moved from regional rounds held in Jhapa, Biratnagar, Chitwan, Lumbini, Pokhara and Kathmandu to a national championship that tested students on justification, logical interrogation and real-time defence of mathematical claims. Unlike conventional contests that reward speed and correct answers, the league’s format emphasised reasoning, adaptability and collaborative argumentation, organisers said.

A total of 13 teams in the Alpha Category and 14 teams in the Beta Category qualified for the championship stage, drawing top performers from across the regions. Judges evaluated participants on the depth and coherence of their reasoning, their ability to refine arguments under scrutiny, and their collaborative intelligence, the league said.

In the Alpha Category, Premier International IB Continuum School took first place with team members Manav Sanghai, Aansh Roongta and Vivaan Agrawal. Kathmandu Pragya Kunja School finished second with Aadhya Thapa, Anupreksha Khatiwada and Vidheyak Dhakal, while NAMI International School placed third with Shreyasi Acharya, Kabya Shrivastava and Akshaj Parajuli.

The Beta Category was won by New Horizon English Boarding Secondary School, represented by Prastuti Nepal, Samragi Belbase and Prekshya Khanal. Premier International IB Continuum School finished second in Beta with Aayushman Agrawal, Aagaman Gautam and Osin Shrestha. RAI School and Kumudini Homes Secondary School shared third place in the Beta Category, with RAI’s team of Vipul Dubey, Gauransh Tyagi and Ojas Jha and Kumudini Homes’ team of Sanskriti Gairhe, Aaditya Khattri and Pratistha KC.

Judges said the winning teams stood out not only for correct solutions but for their capacity to adapt arguments when challenged, rather than relying on rehearsed logic. Proponents of the league said the debate framework exposed conceptual gaps and strengthened students’ intellectual ownership, aligning classroom practice more closely with higher education and real-world problem solving.

The National Round was supported by a network of institutional partners. Britannica Inc. served as research and skill-tech partner, Foodmandu provided food delivery services, TBG Nepal acted as fraction sponsor, and Lumbini World School and Kumudini Homes Secondary School were co-organising partners. The event also received support from Educase and Lab of Future.

Embark UnMath said the significance of the Global Math Debate League lies in its methodological shift: moving mathematics from silent computation to public reasoning. With the national rollout complete, organisers said the next phase is institutional integration so that reasoning-based assessment practices can scale across schools without waiting for formal policy reform. The league’s stated benchmark going forward, they said, is whether students can defend their thinking under pressure, not merely whether they can calculate.