IIT-M students organise women empowerment programme

Through the initiative, ‘She Can’, online career guidance sessions were held for girl students from schools and colleges, and financial literacy sessions for women working in the unorganised sector. The initiative was taken up as part of the institute’s annual tech festival, Shaastra. Sessions on financial management were also conducted for working women in Mumbai and Chennai. This online campaign was intended to help them adapt to the ‘new normal’ created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Shaastra does a social outreach every year wherein our students interact with schools in and around the city for various social activities. This year, even being constrained by the pandemic, the students came up with the idea of ‘She Can’,” said Professor Shaikh Faruque Ali, faculty advisor, Shaastra-2021.

The students organised three career guidance sessions for more than 190 girl students from schools across the country, he said. “With the help of career counsellors, these sessions reduced the percentage of students confused about their future plans to 26 per cent from 80.2 per cent,” Ali claimed.

Also, leaders in entrepreneurship interacted with around 200 college girls, highlighting the multiple opportunities available for them. “As much as 58.9 per cent of the students felt that they learned about new opportunities they would not have found out otherwise, and 59.6 per cent felt an increase in their confidence and motivation levels after the session,” he added.

“Since the last couple of decades, the growth that gender equality has brought in society is truly inspirational. Besides, we observed that it is essential to elevate the prevalent perception of financial literacy and career guidance among women and girls. The ‘She Can’ initiative tries to contribute our hand at promoting this awareness at a very young age by connecting with various schools and NGOs around the city,” said Neha Mahesh, student coordinator, Shaastra-2021.