IIT Hyderabad holds training to promote STEM among Girls

NEW DELHI, MAY 31: Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad plans to conduct every year the training program to encourage meritorious girl students in Class XI to take up a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The Institute hosted ‘Vigyan Jyoti,’ a two-week Residential Training Program designed to give an exposure for girl students to various careers in STEM, from 12th to 29th May 2018.

Among the outcomes of this program was to provide the girl students an opportunity to get continuous mentorship and guidance from Scholars and Mentors they met during this residential training program, which was funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt of India.

Addressing the valedictory function held on Tuesday (29th May 2018), the chief guest Ms. Chandana Deepthi IPS, Superintendent of Police, Medak District, said, “Rural girls have more potential to bring out a change as they directly face several issues. Women should study sciences as it affects way of life irrespective of what path finally one chooses.”

Further, Ms. Chandana Deepthi added that analytical reasoning and critical thinking were important in addition to hard work to achieve success. She made a special appeal to the parents to encourage their ward and be with them in their journey.

Around 35 meritorious girl students of class XI, mostly from Government schools, took part in this program, which also dealt with mental and physical fitness, emotional resilience, personal health and hygiene.

Speaking about the outcomes of this program, Dr. Mudrika Khandelwal, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, and Nodal Officer said the girl students gained several things including:

The students were taken to various laboratories such as 3D printing, robotics, tinkerer's, materials science, physics, chemistry and others. The students were also taken on a heritage tour to Qutab Shahi, Golconda and museums besides to the Birla Planetarium and the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD).