IBM STEM for Girls is aimed at increasing the participation of girl children and women in STEM careers. Source: Pixabay
IBM India has collaborated with the Nagaland school education department to introduce digital training for girl students in more than 250 secondary and higher secondary schools across 15 districts of the northeastern state.
The programme, IBM Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) for Girls, aims to provide 21st century skills to more than 12,000 girls, the tech major said in a statement on March 24.
"The curriculum will supplement the state's efforts towards quality education. This programme will help enable more than 12,000 girls studying between classes VIII to X with access to digital fluency, coding skills training, 21st century skills, including life and career skill,” an official from the school education department said.
The IBM Stem for girls programme is currently running in 12 states – Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Assam, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Nagaland.
The programme is part of a three-year partnership between IBM and Nagaland government, with the QUEST Alliance and YouthNetas as implementation partners to increase the participation of girl children and women in STEM careers.
The programme will also aim to empower nearly 1,400 teachers in the participating schools to engage and train students on computational thinking.
“The IBM STEM for Girls programme will help young learners become problem solvers. We hope that in the days to come, our children become job creators, and we nurture citizens who will be able to solve problems and think out of the box. We hope YouthNet, Quest Alliance and IBM continue the partnership for years to come," said Kevileno Angami, special secretary, Nagaland.
"With the expansion of our STEM for Girls programme in Nagaland, we have increased our footprint to 12 states across India. This is a part of IBM's ground-breaking commitment to provide 30 million people of all ages worldwide with new skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow by 2030," IBM India’s managing director Sandip Patel said.