The central government is all set to launch a programme to encourage girls to pursue science and other allied subjects in school and at the higher education level. The programme named Vigyan Jyothi was devised after a report brought out by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) painted a dismal picture of the state of female education in India. According to the data shared by DST, girls comprise just 24% of graduates passing out in STEM subjects in engineering, 22% at the postgraduate level, 28% in MPhil and 35% at the PhD level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As per the official media release, the government plans to select 100 girls from grades 9 to 12 based on their percentile score, from over 550 districts in the country to pursue higher education in STEM and allied subjects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to this, the selected students will receive a fellowship to fund their education when admitted to top institutes. As part of the programme, DST will hold science camps for girls in premier technology institutes such as IITs and NITs, in order to give them a hands-on experience of a premier institute in terms of culture, motivation and interaction with scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n