Transforming the Futures of 150,000 Government School Students with a STEM Education Program

Brillio, a digital transformation services and solutions provider, has been running a National STEM program in collaboration with STEM Learning, a social enterprise dedicated to promoting STEM education among school students. Since 2019, they have been hosting the National STEM Challenge, a national competition open to students from government and government-aided schools nationwide, as part of their CSR initiative, ‘Bringing Smiles’.

What sets this program apart is the fact that it’s not just a one-time competition, but works throughout the year with students. They achieve this by establishing science and math labs for practical learning and providing science kits to enhance students’ understanding of key concepts. The finale, which took place in Pune on 9 September 2023, was attended by more than 130 students and 40 teachers from 20 schools across 13 states.

Over the years, they have reached around 1,50,000 children across over 900 schools. Yasin Ansari, a teacher at the Netaji Hindi Vidyapith ME School, Bongaigaon, Assam, says that the level of education has improved, thanks to these STEM mini-science centers. “Even during the lockdown, I was able to teach the students online through the material at the science center. I also used to go teach students at their homes on Sundays through these practical kits,” he adds.

Brillio hopes to reach 10 lakh students by 2030 and equip them through STEM education.

Brillio is also running a STEM for Girls program in which they provide a tablet-based education program for girls — to work on the gender disparity in STEM careers. “The intake of women in STEM programs in colleges is low. To help more women join these courses, we are giving them scholarships and tablets. We’ve given this tablet-based education program to over 200 female students last year,” adds Abhishek.

“We want to bridge the gap between government and private school students. This will enable students to grow up and become self-sustainable, and help them have a better life. Two-thirds of the students in our country study in government schools and must be given the same platform to grow,” he adds. Two students who received Brillio education scholarships were among the top scorers in the board exams in Karnataka in 2020 and 2021. Brillio also states that their initiatives have led to improved school attendance, active classroom and co-curricular participation, enhanced learning outcomes, digital literacy, and conceptual clarity in grade-specific subjects

_{Repurposed the article originally published in thebetterindia.com}