IIT Delhi has come up with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) mentorship programme for school-going girls, in order to motivate them to take up a career in science-related disciplines.
The main motive of the programme, which is meant for Class XI girls, is to train young minds to think creatively about science and innovation, to provide them with novel hands-on experience in solving research problems and to help form a stronger knowledge foundation.
IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said "STEM needs to have more women participation. With this mentorship programme, school girls will get exposure to some of the world-class laboratories and research work going on here. I am hopeful it will prove to be a turning point in their lives and they would be motivated to enter the world of science and technology and help society with their research work."
With this programme, each school girl will be mentored by an IIT Delhi faculty along with his/her research scholars. During the training period, they will be exposed to basic concepts in STEM subjects and also learn the practical methods used in laboratories.
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Pritha Chandra, Associate Dean of Academic Outreach and New Initiatives at IIT Delhi said, "The programme will give girl students some required traction for getting into the fields of science and technology in the future. We believe that students should be exposed to scientific concepts at an early age, to be able to appreciate the rigour of academic research and to build up the confidence to take up academics as a career choice upon growing up."
There will be ten Class XI girls from the science stream in one batch and it will be a three-level programme. It will consist of a two-week winter project from December 2021 to early January. Then there would be a series of online lectures delivered by IIT Delhi professors during February and April of next year. Finally, a summer project would be completed wherein the students will get hands-on experience in labs and finalise their project reports with their mentors.