IIT Madras aims to promote STEM careers; targets to reach 50,000 government school students by 2026

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) aims to reach further 50,000 government school students in seven states by 2026 as part of its drive to popularise science and give career advice in vernacular languages.

This outreach programme is being offered free of charge with the goal of encouraging youngsters to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The Institute has donated 3,20,702 books to 9,193 rural and government schools in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Highlighting the need for such initiatives, V Srinivas Chakravarthy, department of biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, IIT Madras, said, “Popular science serves as a bridge, translating complex scientific concepts into a language that makes it more accessible to a broader audience. It allows individuals without a scientific background to engage with and appreciate the beauty and importance of scientific discoveries.”

Activities undertaken

The primary activities carried out via this initiative include the following:

• Popular Science books are translated into vernacular languages and offered to government school students.
• Offer career guidance to students in vernacular languages.
• Inspire youngsters to pursue careers in STEM fields with scientific experiments and motivating presentations.

Career guidance tool

As part of this programme, students in schools undertake a free career guidance assessment called 'My Choice My Future' (MCMF), which was created by teachers and alumni of IIT Madras in collaboration with BodhBridge. The MCMF tool is a basic career guidance evaluation that yields thorough insights. This online career guidance service assists students in identifying the best career pathways based on their unique skills.

This tool is presently accessible in seven Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, and English. Students get career guidance seminars with a focus on STEM fields. Through this initiative, the institution has reached out to 10,931 students in over 100 schools throughout Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

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Feedback from school

In this initiative, the team visits schools to make learning more enjoyable. Experts interact with students to help them understand how and why understanding science and applying it in real life is a crucial component of learning. A few experiments are performed to make the session more interesting and interactive.

Different science subjects are discussed with students to encourage them to pursue STEM education. Students have the option to ask questions. Engaging students in hands-on experiments and conversations about real-world applications of scientific principles is anticipated to improve their knowledge and enthusiasm in STEM fields.

Sharing feedback on the sessions being held under this initiative, J Chandra Sekhar Gowd, headmaster, Zilla Parishad High School, Andhra Pradesh, said, “This is an excellent initiative to awaken the genius in students through scientific knowledge. The service you are providing to the students makes every student develop reasoning faculty and scientific thinking. Reading science fiction makes a child experience thrill and it develops imagination and higher order thinking.”