Twelve years ago, Lala Rukh led a science workshop for children in a slum area of Karachi, Pakistan’s most populous city. The kids had fun making slime, bubbles, and tiny explosions in water.

But, at the end, a child posed a question that broke Ms. Rukh’s heart. “They came up to me and said, ‘When will you come back?’” she recalls.

Ms. Rukh had not planned to come back.

Why We Wrote This

Lala Rukh believes science instruction is not only for the elite. By connecting science to kids’ daily lives through play-based activities and hands-on workshops, her social enterprise is getting marginalized children excited about learning.

At the time, she was based in Norway, working for a social enterprise that aims to stoke young people’s interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. Bu

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