IBM collaborates with govt to build STEM career opportunities for girl students

IBM India and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on Friday announced two collaborations aimed at promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning among students and to inspire them towards STEM careers.

The first collaboration involves the DST's Vigyan Jyoti programme which aims at creating a level-playing field for meritorious girls from grade 9 to 12 to pursue STEM in their higher education.

The second collaboration is with Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous orgsation of DST, which will build and run Engage With Science -- a technology-driven interactivity platform, which will work in tandem with the India Science OTT channel.

Engage With Science will aim at creating excitement and involvement among school students through tools like gamification and help increase consumption of science and technology content from India Science and make STEM look aspirational for their future careers.

"We hope to see at least one-third representation of women in top technology schools of the country five years from now and eventually increasing the participation of girl students in our programme to at least 50,000," said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary at the Department of Science and Technology,

Sandip Patel, Managing Director of IBM India and South Asia, said India leads in providing the world with top-class scientist and engineers but the percentage of women in that segment is still small.

"It is the need of the hour to promote gender diversity in STEM education and to create new avenues for cultivating diverse talent. The collaboration with DST will expand our STEM programme to girl students pursuing 10+2 courses," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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