Vigyan Jyoti: Centre’s Plan to Encourage Female Students to Opt for STEM Education

The Centre has decided that the more women need to enrol in some of the more under-represented areas of education such asScience,Technology, EngineeringandMathematics(STEM). To ensure that more female students take admission in these courses, a programme will be launched.

The Programme, Vigyan Jyoti, will focus on sparking an interest in the areas among girls and those who choose to pursue one of the disciplines from one of the top institutes in India will also receive funding to pursue their passion.

The objective of Vigyan Jyoti is to appeal to 100 girl students from 550 districts between 2020-2025 to courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. They added that the students will be selected based on their percentile.

Sanjiv Mishra, Scientist at the Department of Science and Technolgy (DST) is the official overlooking programme. He stated that the initiative is scheduled to be launched by the end of October 2019.

The Department of Science and Technology had compiled the data of the total percentage of women enrolled and passing out of STEM subjects. The data shows that there were a total of 24% of total passouts in Engineering, 22% at the PG level, while 28% from M.Phil and 35% in PhD.

While talking to PTI, the Secretary of DST, Ashutosh Sharma stated that the programme will consist of science camps for female students atIndian Institutes of Technology,National Institutes of Technologyand national laboratories. He stated that the objective is to provide them with the exposure to the campus of such premier institutes while also imparting knowledge of the culture, motivation and meeting with scientists as well.

Female students, from classes 9-12, are the category of students that the Centre plans to inculcate a spirit for such courses. He stated that among the under-re[resented areas of study, that are chosen by female students, include, engineering, theoretical science, mathematics and physics as well.

He added that the number of female enrolments at the IITs has been 10%, which has not changed much. He further stated that a different type of intervention is required to increase the numbers. The lack of role model and leadership in these areas can be some of the reasons as to why female students tend not to choose the subjects, he added. Through the programme, he stated, such issues should be solved.

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One of the added benefits of the programme for the girl child is financial support. Ashutosh Sharma stated that the students will be offered a ‘modest financial incentive’ which will compensate for the travel expenses to the science camps. Further, if the female candidate chooses to pursue the under-represented subjects at the premier institutes, they will be offered a fellowship.

Additional benefits to the programme include a counselling session with the parents of the girl child. This will be done to alleviate all the concerns of the parents regarding pursuing a course in such an under-represented subject.

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Ashutosh Sharma added that the confidence and motivation that the students will need to pursue an education in one of the fields, interactions with female leaders at top ranks in these areas of science and technology and from different corporate worlds, universities and institutes such as DRDO.