Technology major IBM will train more than two lakh Indian girls over the next three years in science and technology, math and engineering. The IT company will be collaborating with the central and state governments to make this possible, PTI reports.
IBM's chairman, president and CEO Gini Rometty said that the training is not only about technical skills but also life skills.
According to PTI, she said, "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 added, "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."
IBM, along with seven state governments in the country, 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. Along with this, IBM's AI-powered mentor platform will 4,000 mentors and six lakh mentees out of which there will be five female mentees.
IBM has joined hands with Kendriya Vidyalaya to help the math teachers mentor students, especially female ones, with the assistance of the company's artificial intelligence platform 'Teacher Advisor With Watson'. IBM, along with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, is launching an Advanced degree programme in the new age technologies. This programme will be in 100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and 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 per cent without focussing on women. Every single place where we have given the opportunity to women, they have performed better than men. 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 as saying by PTI.
