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CBSE to launch programme for girl students

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 14 � In order to promote educational opportunities for girl students, the CBSE is launching the �Udaan� programme. This programme is designed to provide a comprehensive platform to deserving girl students who aspire to pursue higher education in engineering, and assist them to prepare for the IIT JEE while studying in Classes XI and XII, said a press release.

Out of 14575 applications received 951 girl students from across the country have been selected to be a part of this programme. 54 girl students were from 6 Union Territories and a total of 117 from North Eastern states. Most of these girls come from disadvantaged socio-economic background and have shown excellent academic performance in school.

The press release said the number of girls joining the IITs is really low when compared to the total enrollment in these temples of technical education. Merely 10 to12 per cent of girls are able to clear the entrance to these premier technical education institutions.

Out of the several reasons behind this situation, the major ones include reluctance of parents to send their daughters to get themselves prepared for the entrance examinations to the centres located at distant places as well as lack of quality study opportunities in the neighborhood. Thus the bright and intelligent girls, who always lead when it comes to the Board examination, fail to get their names in the selection list of IIT and other such premier institutions.

The �Udaan� project aims at addressing the low enrollment of girls in engineering colleges. Therefore, it is envisaged as the first step towards achieving this larger goal of addressing the quality gap between school education and engineering entrance, by addressing the three dimensions of education � curriculum design, transaction and assessment. The aim is also to enrich and enhance teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics at the Senior Secondary level, said the press release.

The objective of this project is to provide a platform that empowers girl students and provides better learning opportunities to them. As a result they will be able to compete confidently at the entrance examinations in the technical education institutions and eventually become important stakeholders in the technical growth of the nation.

All girls have given specially prepared content in the form of videos, text and practice tests on a tablet. They have access to a helpline where they can post their queries and doubts which will be resolved through weekend contact classes conducted in 52 cities across the country. They will also be provided financial assistance based on the number of reward points they collect during the course of the program through the assessment process built in the programme.

The key highlights of the programme are � no financial burden as the entire program is free of cost, high quality material provided on tablets and made available online to enable 24hours in all days of a week learning, interactive by means of discussion forums, highly qualified mentors to facilitate learning, weekend classes at 52 centers across the country, 24 hours every day in a week helpline to resolve queries, financial assistance by means of points accrued during the learning process, said the press release, adding, Union Minister of Human Resources Development Smriti Irani launched the programme in presence of CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi.

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