STEM Education — Why is it important for your child’s future?
We see a constant change in technological and scientific advancement in society and this is at a rapid rate. Education, on one hand, is the crucial element that promotes overall growth in the country and technological advancement, on the other hand, is rapid. They must coexist in order to see development and achieve sustainability. COVID-19 taught us a lesson during the pandemic when the dependency on technology shifted to a mandated need. Amidst all of this change and dynamism, the need for more equipped scientists and engineers emerges.
STEM education lies at the heart of this requirement and stands out as the solution. STEM education not only promotes the study of science — technology — engineering and mathematics but also encourage them to apply to learn and perform experiments in order to invent something new. Business houses these days seek innovators rather than reapplying the already existing processes. The business landscape is changing towards innovation to ensure that adaptability is achieved with maximum profitability in mind. Customers are spoilt for choice and their expectations are constantly changing, business houses are becoming customer-centric via innovative change.
India has been motivating its educational landscape to include and develop STEM education. STEM jobs and STEM-related careers have picked up ever since business houses such as TATA, Infosys, etc., have invested in their R&D space. Job postings related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) in India have increased by 44% in the past three years (November 2016 to November 2019), according to data from job site Indeed. Delhi is leading the way for STEM jobs with 31% of overall postings among metros, followed by Mumbai (21%), Bengaluru (14%), Pune (12%), Hyderabad (12%), and Chennai (10%). However, in terms of regions, the West has beaten the rest of the country to the top spot, with 34% of all postings from this region. The North and South of India come in at a close second with 31% of postings from each of these regions. The East accounted for only 4% of all STEM job postings.
With a vision to ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’, Atal Innovation Mission has established Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India. ATAL Tinkering Labs, are innovative working spaces that foster creative, critical, computational, and design skills to enable students to become innovators as the mission suggests. The Atal Tinkering Lab has proposed and designed a curriculum that tracks the progress and helps teachers with implementing various concepts alongside milestones for learning.
It is crucial for parents to be introduced to STEM-related topics and concepts that are taking place in school. Once aware parents can connect the learning with the progressive milestones of the STEM-related curriculum as prescribed. Parents should be made well aware of products and materials that are available in the market which promote STEM learning by connecting curriculum concepts with the experiments/products. One such organization is Tan90 which provides affordable STEM-related projects which are mapped to the curriculum prescribed in schools. In this way, the students are learning the concept in a new way as well as innovating through STEM. Parents are pivotal in encouraging their children to follow their passion for STEM education. The majority of jobs in the future would require an inter-related skill application between the STEM subjects.
Lifelong learning requires people not only to constantly learn new things but also to unlearn and relearn as the world changes. The future of learning requires learners to adapt to change and not be restricted to the way of prescribed textbooks. Learning needs to be on the onus of the students but with the guidance of teachers who aren’t preaching a particular way of learning on a daily basis. A way of learning which is defined is not going to build capacity in learners as it restricts them to only be a link in the chain. Why not allow them to decide what would be the chain? Children must be taught that learning by doing leads to innovation and innovation leads to the invention of a new future. To remain globally competitive and develop engaged citizens, our schools should weave 21st-century competencies and expertise throughout the learning experience.
India has developed a lot of opportunities for STEM education in its educational landscape. However, there are a number of hurdles that requires the collaborative effort of all the stakeholders in the student’s learning circle. The benefits of STEM education are innumerable in nature and one can only exploit them by implementing its ideology. The country produces a high number of engineers and scientists but it’s time it also combines innovation and logic in learning. As parents, teachers, or educational leaders we could promote STEM education by gathering providers such as Tan90 for homes and classrooms where creators are given the opportunity to further explore.
The pinnacle of STEM education in India would be achieved when STEM learning is no more a facility for capable institutions but rather an opportunity for all strata of society.
