NEW DELHI
At a time when software icon N.R. Narayana Murthy has suggested greater focus on STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for speeding up the country’s march to become a developed nation by 2047, the Narendra Modi government seems to have pressed the pedal to increase women participation in these fields.
Taking a cue from Japanese efforts to raise the level of participation of women in STEM fields, the Department of Science and Technology has turned its focus towards encouraging women to continue in the field even after marriage, said an official, pointing to efforts to improve gender parity in science and technology R&D at the institutional level.
In Japan there is a stigma that women who are successful in STEM fields are less likely to find husbands. This is because STEM careers are often seen as demanding and time-consuming, which leaves less time for dating and family. As a result of this, the country has been facing a challenge in maintaining a healthy participation of women in these fields.
“The Indian government is mindful of retaining and attracting women to STEM careers and we have many schemes for this,” said Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh.
He said there is also a programme of Overseas Fellowship for Women to provide exposure to research scholars and young women scientists to upgrade their skills in various countries. The programme will serve PhD scholars in the age group of 21-35 years and young faculty in the age group of 27-45 years through its two components, viz. Women Overseas Student Internship and Women Overseas Fellowship respectively. This 3-6 months’ overseas visit will include monthly stipend, return airfare, health insurance and contingency.
Officials in the ministry cited the Vigyan Jyoti scheme that was launched with a view to address underrepresentation of women in STEM. The scheme was started in the year 2020 in association with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) an autonomous institution of MHRD, having a network of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) across the country. All IIT, NITs, IISERs, National R&D labs, Central/State Universities are knowledge partners so as to provide them with required scientific resources and assistance.
More than 10,000 girls from 100 districts including more than 15 aspirational districts have benefitted from the scheme over the last four years.
The scheme has a target to initiate valuable interventions at school level for meritorious girl students, particularly from Class IX to Class XII, in order to enchant, engage, enrich, encourage and empower them to qualify and pursue STEM courses in reputed institutes in India specially fields where women are underrepresented.
Science camps, visits to IITs, NITs, IISERs etc., workshops, interaction with scientific role models, students-parents counselling, lectures, special classes, and visits to the R&D lab area are also organised under the scheme, said an official.
Under the Gender Advancement for Transforming Institution (GATI) initiative launched in 2020, the Department of Science and Technology has been encouraging institutions to create an enabling environment for equal participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics (STEMM) disciplines at all levels.
In a related development, Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, inaugurated a Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) and laid the foundation stones for six projects at NIT Rourkela campus. The institute has laid the foundation stone for three 500-seated girls’ hostels for fulfilling its vision to empower female participation in STEM fields.
NIT Rourkela allocated a 15-acre plot for both boys’ and girls’ hostels. Presently, the institute plans to use half of the area for a boys’ hostel with a capacity of 1,000 and three-fourth of the area for three girls’ hostels, each with an accommodation capacity of 500 students. The remaining area is being kept aside for future hostel construction. Promoting sustainable practices on campus, the institute is constructing a 1.5 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant and faculty residences. Among the three girls’ hostels, one is funded by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) with Rs 42.69 crore under their CSR activity. The other girls’ hostel is funded by the Ministry of Education under the EWS scheme fund. The rest of the project, costing Rs 165.81crore will be completed with the support of HEFA (Higher Education Financing Agency). The infrastructural development of Kendriya Vidyalaya-NIT Rourkela will be supported by Coal India.
Earlier, Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy suggested that the country spend $1 billion a year to train school teachers by 10,000 retired highly accomplished teachers from the developed world and from India.
He said one possible way of accelerating NEP’s (National Education Policy) outcome is to invite 10,000 retired highly accomplished teachers from the developed world and from India in STEM areas to create 2,500 “Train the Teacher” colleges in all states.