Mission
To ensure gender parity in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) fields especially in underrepresented areas of STEM.
Aims & Objectives
Vigyan Jyoti Programme is aimed to bring gender parity in STEM.- The main objectives of this programme are: To increase the representation of girls in different streams of Science and Technology from an early stage.
- To facilitate a conducive and enabling environment for girls to pursue science from School level to college level and from research level to job level.
- To enhance the girls’ ratio in the underrepresented areas of STEM at the UG level and ensure gender parity.
- The programme will act as a feeder to increase the gender parity in STEM at successive levels (UG, PG, PhD, Post Doc).
- Easy access to S&T information and knowledge in association with Knowledge Partners (KPs).
About NVS
Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), an autonomous body under Ministry of Education, is headquartered at Sector 62, Noida and has eight Regional Offices across India: Bhopal, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna, Pune, and Shillong. The Assistant Commissioners of the Regional Offices are the designated Nodal Officers under the Vigyan Jyoti Program. NVS, started in 1985-86 as a co-educational and fully residential schools’ system, from Class-VI to Class-XII, affiliated with CBSE with an aim to provide free education to talented children predominantly from rural areas in every district; and to give quality education, including a strong component of culture, inculcation of values and awareness of the environment. It also aims at inculcating values of National Integration through Migration Scheme.
About DST
The Department of Science & Technology (DST) was established in May 1971, with the objective of promoting new areas of Science & Technology and to play the role of a nodal department for organising, coordinating and promoting S&T activities in the country. The Department has a wide range of activities, from promoting high-end basic research and development of cutting-edge technologies on one hand, to service the technological requirements of the common man through development of appropriate skills and technologies on the other and also to develop human resources in S&T.
About Women Centric Initiatives of DST:
The Department of Science and Technology is playing a pivotal role to achieve gender parity in Science & Technology domain in the country. DST is implementing a dedicated, women-centric scheme ‘Women in Science and Engineering-KIRAN (WISE-KIRAN)’ aimed for empowering the women scientists from all walks of life in STEM education and encourages them to build their career in STEM fields by providing them scientific avenues and support. The scheme will provide opportunities in pursuing Ph.D and Post-Doctoral in basic & applied sciences , research in societal aspect, training in Intellectual Property Rights, Science Communication and Technology Transfer, industrial research, etc. WIDUSHI programme aims to support senior women scientists to conduct research in basic & applied sciences and for societal benefit. WINGS programme provides opportunities to women scientists & technologists to undertake international collaborative research in premier institutions in the USA for 3-6 months. CURIE programme is establishing the state of the art research facilities in women universities of the country. The recent addition in this bouquet is ‘Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI)’ to transform institutions for gender equity and ‘Vigyan Jyoti’ to encourage meritorious girls to pursue a career in underrepresented areas of STEM.Through these endeavours of the Department, concerted efforts have been made to give women a strong foothold into the scientific profession.
Through these endeavours of the Department, concerted efforts have been made to give women a strong foothold into the scientific profession.
IBM’s partnership with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti
IBM has forged a partnership with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) as an extension to IBM’s flagship programme “STEM for Girls” running in 14 states to create a robust STEM ecosystem that creates critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and next generation innovators through MANAK - a program targeting to build one million ideas rooted in science from school students. The partnership aims at strengthening the Vigyan Jyoti programme running successfully in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. DST and IBM India aim to work together to further integrate and develop Science & Technology in the education ecosystem with short term courses, workshops, mentoring, and online science content communication for teachers and students in India. Women tech experts working at IBM India will interact and inspire girl students to embark on a career in STEM under the program. This will act as a force multiplier to DST’s ongoing initiatives to increase the number of women in technology fields.