Young Girls Dissatisfied with School Curriculum. Need More Technology
The survey was conducted during PayPal’s 4th edition of Girls in Tech across its technology centers in Bangalore and Chennai
Bangalore, June 14, 2018: In a survey of young girls between the age group of 7 and 14 years, PayPal, the global leader in digital payments, found that 96% of them expressed their desire to learn more about technology in school. These girls were participants at PayPal’s 4th edition of Girls in Tech, a two-week annual initiative conducted across PayPal’s tech centers in India, aimed at nurturing a sense of passion and interest in technology at a young age to create a pool of future talent.
61% of the girls surveyed said they pursue their interest in technology through active reading and workshops outside school as the existing curriculum doesn’t cover enough. 51% of the participants also said that their mothers inspired them the most to pursue technology careers, followed by 34% crediting their fathers while the rest (15%) said their teachers inspired them the most.
“The average gap in the availability of skilled talent in India has risen from 6 per cent in January 2014 to 12 per cent in January 2018 in the STEM sector. The need of the hour is quality technology craftsmen with a desire to strengthen the tech community in India rather than mere coders and engineers. Women representation in STEM courses has traditionally been low and the Girls in Tech program is our effort is to bridge the gap through application-based learning,” said Guru Bhat, GM Technology & Head of Engineering– PayPal.
The success of the Girls in Tech program led to the launch of the Kids in Tech program at PayPal last year to give equal opportunity to future talent, regardless of gender. Additionally, the program has also been extended to girl students from government schools, where the curriculum ranges from basics of technology to coding programs. During the workshop, participants are not only exposed to programming languages such as Scratch, Python, App Inventor and Online Me, but also introduced to other relevant concepts of technology such as Robotics and Digital Payments through fun and interactive sessions.
“While we had a variety of activities for our participants, 40% of the girls surveyed said they enjoyed the coding workshops followed by science & robotics. This is an indication of how rich and diverse the future of the tech ecosystem in India can be provided we nurture the future talent from a young age,” added Guru Bhat.
The Girls in Tech program was introduced in 2015 while Kids in tech kickstarted in 2016. Both the programs have seen participation of over 200 girls and boys since inception.
About PayPal
Fueled by a fundamental belief that having access to financial services creates opportunity, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) is committed to democratizing financial services and empowering people and businesses to join and thrive in the global economy. Our open digital payments platform gives PayPal's 237 million active account holders the confidence to connect and transact in new and powerful ways, whether they are online, on a mobile device, in an app, or in person. Through a combination of technological innovation and strategic partnerships, PayPal creates better ways to manage and move money and offers choice and flexibility when sending payments, paying or getting paid. Available in more than 200 markets around the world, the PayPal platform, including Braintree, Venmo and Xoom, enables consumers and merchants to receive money in more than 100 currencies, withdraw funds in 56 currencies and hold balances in their PayPal accounts in 25 currencies. For more information on PayPal, visit https://www.paypal.com/about.