Secondary Schools
The Secondary Schools program is a digital fluency and life skills curriculum designed to empower girls and boys in government secondary schools break gender stereotypes, make informed career choices and apply 21st-century skills to create solutions to issues they observe in their communities.
A 3-year study was conducted to capture program impact, along with a baseline study that was conducted at the start of the STEM for Girls program in 2019. Highlights from both studies are presented below.
State Partnerships
75% of those interviewed felt the program increased their interest in computers, programming and coding
50% of students interviewed felt the program helped them better choose subjects for further study
37.5% felt that the program educated them about different career pathways
53% of respondents reported an improvement in communication skills after the program
70% of girls in non-residential schools believe they are as good as boys in technical subjects
schools
Girls in residential schools have greater awareness on pursuing education and marriage decisions
A greater number of non-residential school learners reported that boys are better at Math and Science
students
Reaching New Geographies
Through the IBM STEM For Girls program, the Secondary Schools program at Quest Alliance scaled up to 839 schools and 1,34,210 students across 8 states, namely Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, and Telangana through formal MoUs with the State Education departments. With this, Quest Alliance expanded its footprint to Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for the first time. This also meant expanding our network of implementation partners by adding new partners like AIF, NIIT Foundation, YCF, Patang, Restless Development, and DEF, Vasundhara Foundation, and Cohesion Foundation along with HDRC and Navjeevan Trust.
The first quarterly meet for IBM STEM for Girls India project's partners: American India Foundation, NIIT Foundation, AISECT, Digital Empowerment Foundation and Yuva Chintana Foundation.
Student Voices Find Forums
The STEM for GIrls program engaged multiple stakeholders through 425 student share-outs, 482 Career Day events and 6 Scratch-camps across the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. A few chosen projects were showcased at the annual Quest2Learn Summit in Bangalore. In addition, four young girls were invited by Radio One (94.3FM) on the occasion of Women’s Day to discuss gendered experiences of access to education, schooling opportunities, and aspirations for their STEM careers. Students from Hyderabad were also invited to attend the AMD GameOn event where they explored multiplayer gaming zones and the world of Virtual Reality.
Students explored multiplayer gaming zones at the AMD GameOn Event
Four STEM Girl champions from Bangalore schools were live on 94.3 Radio One FM
Volunteering Sees A Big Boost
2019 saw over 600 hours of volunteering from our CSR partners IBM and AMD across more than 15 school events. This included 60 leaders from the IBM global leadership team spending a day with secondary school girls in Jaipur, Rajasthan, discussing coding projects, career exploration, and STEM projects. In other events, Jean Christophe Knoertzer, VP Corporate Social Responsibility, IBM, and his team interacted with students in Bangalore, and Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP Technology and Engineering, AMD, spoke about the potential future of technology and inspired students in Hyderabad to build their own career pathways.
Over 600 hours
of volunteering
“I love computers, and I really like Scratch. I created a project on deforestation, which is a major problem in our environment. This has been the best experience for me, a landmark in my life. And this has been possible only because of Quest Alliance and IBM.”
Asra, MGM GGHS, Nampally School
