Delhi Govt. 'Education Mentoring Programme' for Effective Initiation of Girls in STEM Education and Careers

Vinod Kakumanu
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The Delhi government has launched what is being called the Education Mentoring Programme under which the schoolgirls from classes 9 to 12 will be coached and mentored by the seniors. The seniors who will don the garb of mentors are the students from Indira Gandhi Delhi Technological University for Women (IGDTUW).

There are as many as 200 volunteers who are set to mentor around 1000 schoolgirls. The mentorship programme is part of the Youth for Education initiative of the government which was conceived for the promotion of secondary and senior secondary girl students in the government schools in Delhi.

The program will rope in students in different courses including BTech, MTech, Ph.D., and MBA from the IGDTUW for driving the mentoring initiative. In the first leg, 200 students will be mobilized for the mentorship of 1000 schoolgirls.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia explained the stance of the government in emphasizing the education for girls by saying that the participation of women in STEM fields is inordinately low which indicates that the exposure the girl students are getting is inadequate. The mentorship scheme aims at reversing the trend.

The empowerment of the students of Delhi, especially in the STEM areas is the objective of the Youth for Education programme. "We want our students, especially our girls, to receive the right guidance, which will help them build sustainable innovations. It is our vision that our girls equally dominate the STEM sector," Mr. Sisodia said.

The Education Mentoring programme will delegate the mentorship responsibilities of 5 schoolgirls to IGDTUW mentor. The mentors will enlighten the juniors on the STEM subjects, the career prospects in them, usage of learning resources, and ways to study effectively for the entrance exams.