Robotex India announced in collaboration with BMC Software India Pvt. Ltd. (a subsidiary of BMC Software, Inc.) the launch of multiple initiatives towards strengthening the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education ecosystem in India.
With the initiative ‘Build Your First Robot’, BMC Software aims to empower 250 government school female students in Pune with the technology skills required to increase their employability and bridge the gender divide. This is one of the first programs of its kind launched in Maharashtra.
BMC India also created the unique “STEM Lab” in B T Sahani Navin Hind High School, a Zilla Parishad School in Pune to further augment the ecosystem for students to acquire future STEM skills like coding, robotics, artificial intelligence, application development, and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which enables them to pursue opportunities in the digitized world.
Bridging the gap
“We aim to train over 2 million students by 2023 pan-India on employable skills such as coding, robotics, and AI. The goal of our partnership with BMC helps bridge the gender gap in STEM and prepare students from marginalized communities in rural India for jobs of the future.” said Payal Rajpal, director, Robotex India.
Fueled by transformative technological investments and a massive market of digitally connected individuals (projected to be around 560 million), the digital revolution is gaining traction in India at a rapid pace. Despite this progress, there has been a high gender disparity in terms of women pursuing STEM fields. This divide is even more prevalent for students from lower income households.
“The future has to be ‘inclusive.’ Offering opportunities to increase the number of women in technology will expedite technological innovation and enhance the ability to serve the world at large,” Sakaar Anand, India country head, BMC Software. “Organizations, like BMC, must do everything possible to improve the outreach of STEM education among women” Anand added.