Mastercard announced the new phase of its flagship Girls4Tech programme in India, which will benefit over 10,800 girls from 30 government schools in Tamil Nadu.
Supported by the Mastercard Impact Fund and in partnership with the American India Foundation (AIF), the expansion of the programme aims to reach an additional 1 lakh female students across the country by 2024 to encourage them to take up Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, this includes 10,800 students in Tamil Nadu. STEM courses will be offered to girls aged 8 to 14. In 2020-21, the programme reached 17,820 girls across three districts in Tamil Nadu, with an aim to narrow the gender gap in STEM.
“The under-representation and disparity of women in STEM are results of deep-rooted social biases and expectations influencing the quality of education they receive and the subjects they study,” said Mathew Joseph, Country Director, American India Foundation.