Price
$10
Promoting Girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, career and non-traditional livelihoods
Whenever we talk about STEM education in India, the gender gap is more visible for girls, especially for girls from underserved communities. Participation of girls/young women in STEM is lagging when we compare them to boys/men. We understand that both boys and girls from rural and urban marginalized communities face barriers in pursuing STEM education. However, when it comes to girls, they face an additional layer of exclusion due to prevailing social biases and norms in our society.
To solve this problem, the GiSTEM program is specifically designed for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds because girls face multiple visible and invisible barriers in STEM education compared to boys due to the gendered impact of poverty.
Through the Girls in STEM (GiSTEM) Program we work towards bridging the gender gap in technology and STEM by promoting non-traditional education and livelihoods for girls. Our multi year, regular engagement program helps girls not only learn new STEM skills but also shatter their internalised gender beliefs regarding STEM, advocate for girls in STEM within their community and become trailblazers within their community with collective support.
In GiSTEM, we enable exposure to opportunities and alternatives so that girls can be updated with the outside world. We create spaces where girls can learn STEM concepts while doing hands-on activities and explore their learning as we believe that conceptual learning is much more effective in the learning process. In 2019, we shifted our GiSTEM level-1 classes into the community so that girls are able to easily access the places and use them more frequently for exploration. We are in the process of building collectives of young women who can be role models and changemakers for other girls while taking ownership of their own career and education. The collectives will run the GiSTEM model of Community Jugaad Lab and Girls Makerspace in their own community,
taking complete responsibility and accountability. The Girls Makerspace will have an open house session for all community girls and young women who wish to learn about the STEM domain. We are also setting up the Community Jugaad labs in the communities so that young women can take full ownership of the place while being at their full potential and use that space to encourage other girls and young women around them.
