IT major IBM to train 2 lakh Indian girls for STEM-related careers

New Delhi: The American based multi-National Information technology company IBM will be offering training to more than 2 lakh Indian girls over the next three years in the fields of science, technology, maths and engineering.

IBM’s chairman, president and CEO Gini Rometty speaking on company’s initiative said the training will include life skills apart from technical skills, IBT times reports.

She added: “We can see 100 per cent jobs are going to change. You need more women in the workforce. We are announcing for 200,000 from grade eight to twelve, we are going to prepare them for STEM over a three year period.”

She further stated that: “All of us are capable of teaching our employees sort of hard skills. It is softskill, in the technology world that we have to learn. Collectively our programs are doing one million in numbers and helping four million teachers.”

Now according to reports, the IT major IBM along with seven state governments in India will help over two lakh girls studying in government schools to train for ‘new collar jobs’ as well as STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects in classrooms.

IBM’s AI-powered mentor platform will have around 4,000 mentors and six lakh mentees out of which there will be five female mentees.

Joining hands with Kendriya Vidyalaya to help the math teachers mentor students, especially female ones, IBM will be providing them assistance with its artificial intelligence platform ‘Teacher Advisor With Watson’.

IBM will also launch a joint collaboration with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to launch an Advanced degree programme in the new age technologies which shall be availed in 100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) of which half of the institutes will be all women.

In teachers’ training, IBM will help four million educationists under the Indian Open Educational Resources in science training as part of STEM.
“It is not possible for India to grow at 9-10 percent without focussing on women. Every single place where we have given the opportunity to women, they have performed better than men. The government has to play the role of facilitator, but it’s the men who have to change their mindset that women should get a place in organisations,” Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant was quoted saying to a new source.