IBM launches STEM For Girls program in Arunachal Pradesh

IBM (NYSE: IBM) on Wednesday announced a collaboration with the Department of School Education in Arunachal Pradesh to introduce the IBM STEM for Girls program in more than 130 secondary and higher secondary schools across 15 districts in the state. 

In this effort, more than 13,500 students studying between 8th and 10th grade will have exposure to digital fluency, coding skills training, and 21st-century skills including life and career skills.

The STEM For Girls program expansion in Arunachal Pradesh is a part of IBM’s commitment to skilling 30 million people worldwide by 2030.

The curriculum introduced by IBM STEM For Girls will align and supplement the state's efforts toward offering quality education. This initiative is part of a three-year program between IBM and the state government, with Quest Alliance and Alombro Mayu Yaku Chi Amey Aroga (AMYAA) as the implementation partners, to further help increase the participation of girl children and women in STEM careers. AMYAA will hire facilitators to support the school processes, and will anchor the advocacy and liasiing with district education officials for executing the program.

Students will be able to access curricula in multiple settings, including via IBM SkillsBuild, which provides learners with coursework that provides introductions to foundational technologies used in many industries, such as cloud computing and AI.

Padmini Singla, IAS, Secretary-Education, Govt of Arunachal Pradesh, said, "We are extremely proud to launch the IBM STEM For Girls program in the state. We believe that the purpose of education is to create a platform for independent thinkers and innovators. The state will continue to focus on improving foundational literacy and numeracy, early childhood care and education, governance and digital education and emphasise on improving vocational and teacher education."

Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India, said, "Through our IBM STEM For Girls initiative, we are reaching out to students beyond metros to offer a holistic knowledge development program, training in new-age technologies, and help girls make informed career choices with the input of mentors from IBM . We aim to work in partnership with the Arunachal Pradesh State government to advocate, spread awareness and sensitize the school system, teachers, and educators on inclusive practices for promoting girls in technology."

The program also aims to build a State Resource Group comprising of teachers and educators in various districts. The group will be leading efforts toward capacity building of teachers and implementing the program across 130 schools. Through this program we will also empower 650 teachers in intervention schools and enable them to transform into 21st-century educators. This program will allow teachers to engage/train students on computational thinking, STEM, and agency development for girls. These schools will act as model schools demonstrating a curriculum of coding, STEM, and life and career skills training within the classroom curriculum. 

This initiative focuses on involving teachers in co-creating relevant education materials to progress computational thinking and 21st-century skills development at secondary and higher secondary school levels. The IBM STEM for Girls program, currently running in 13 states, has successfully engaged with hundreds of thousands of students. Participating states include Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Assam, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Nagaland.