The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has planned to mentor thousands of bright girl students so that they gained admission into National as well as Indian Institutes of technology.

At a function held at the Agharkar Research Institute in Pune, DST secretary Ashutosh Sharma said that around 50,000  class X girls who will achieve top rank in their respective boards will be chosen under the programme.

Rueing about the fact that the strength of girl students in IIT is less than 10 % in the country, he stressed the need for more women in leadership roles. He added that the programme will not follow a typical coaching class method, but will be like science camps that will help them strengthen their basics and also guide their preparation.

Sharma informed that there will be regular, almost monthly camps which will train the girls to clear the entrance exams and secure admission to reputed institutions.

He also stated that the All India Council of Technical Education and University Grants Commission have been urged to include topics like machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence, big data, etc in the syllabus for better research and development.