EY Foundation has signed an MoU for a vacation period with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti to launch the EY STEM app in 200 Vigyan Jyoti Program schools across India.
The EY STEM app aims to help young girls in the 13-18 years age group engage in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum and pursue high-growth careers in technology. The app aims to reach 10,000 girl students under the Vigyan Jyoti program.
The partnership between Vigyan Jyoti Program schools under the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and EY Foundation has been facilitated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser.
Santosh Pathak – Head, EY Foundation, said, “Education is a key pillar of our Foundation initiatives for the last two decades. With the EY STEM app, we endeavor to stimulate young minds to learn and pursue high-growth STEM careers and attain their potential to become future leaders.”
“With this partnership with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, we hope to make the EY STEM app more widely accessible and motivate many girls to embrace STEM learning in their higher studies in the coming years”, Santosh Pathak added.
Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India remarked, “As the Prime Minister noted in a meeting on National Education Policy 2020, multiple initiatives have been set up to achieve the policy’s objectives of ‘access, equity, inclusivity and quality.”
“For successful implementation of various initiatives with these objectives underlying them, partnerships between the government, and industry will be crucial to intensify the impact”, Prof. Ajay Sood added.
“The partnership between the Ministry of Education’s Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and the EY Foundation is timely and exemplary in this direction. I extend congratulations on behalf of my office on the launch of the EY STEM app to all partners involved”, Prof. Ajay Sood further added.
The Vigyan Jyoti Program (VJP), launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India in the year 2019, is the DST’s flagship initiative to encourage young meritorious girls, particularly from Class IX to Class XII, to pursue a career in STEM fields which are underrepresented by women.
The DST’s implementing partner for the VJP is the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
EY STEM app was launched under the Global Women in Technology (WIT) leaders in 2019 in India (Delhi NCR) and the US (Atlanta and Seattle) to help accelerate gender parity in the technology space.
The pilot involved more than 50 schools and non-profits, with 91,000 activity steps completed. In India, the app was piloted with 6000+ girls across 45 private and government schools.
Nearly 1 million minutes of ‘real-life actions’ were taken by girls to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. EY aims to inspire 100,000 girls globally in 2022 to pursue a career in STEM with the EY STEM app.
The free-to-use app connects girls with a wide range of learning activities, from exploring new technologies, such as AI and blockchain, to learn how design thinking can help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges.
Supported by inspirational stories of pioneering women, the app aims to not only nurture confidence and competence in STEM, but also to develop capabilities such as critical thinking and problem-solving, creativity and systems thinking, and social skills and teamwork.
The initiative aligns with EY’s goals to support the next generation of young people by 2030 through its EY Ripples corporate responsibility program, which aims to positively affect a billion lives.
