Hyderabad: Wells Fargo India & Philippines, technology expansion of Wells Fargo Bank, is taking several initiatives to contribute to educating girl children to build their foundation for a successful technology career. In that direction, the Wells Fargo-Nirmaan Coding Initiative aims to introduce coding to 8,000 students over the next three years, spread across Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.
As part of the launch, last year, 100 girls were selected from four government schools in Hyderabad and Bengaluru and attended a virtual retrenchment ceremony in the midst of the pandemic. They successfully completed a six-month coding program taught by Wells Fargo volunteers.
What started as a pilot initiative with 100 girls across public schools between the ages of 10 and 16 has today transformed into a full-fledged project, which introduced coding to 5,000 students by 2022 and their interest in STEM education and careers “The program has so far affected more than 1,500 students and is growing across three state high schools in Hyderabad,” said Lina Nair, principal, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Wells Fargo India and the Philippines. Telangana Today.
Program scaled up
The Wells Fargo-Nirmaan Coding Initiative is designed to motivate students to pursue a career in technology, through classes in basic computing and coding skills. Today, students attend the coding classes at seven government schools in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, and about 4,000 are expected to register by the end of this month. The certification will be awarded to the students at the end of the program.
The pilot group, which was rolled out last year, volunteered about 25 hours for Wells Fargo Technology for more than 260 hours to virtually teach topics such as computer basics, online / cyber security, logical troubleshooting, and Scratch and Python programming. This year, 50 of them have contributed 150 volunteer hours so far.
Bandana Jha, VP, Social Impact and Sustainability, Wells Fargo India & Philippines, said: “We mainly offer a 100-module program for students in sixth to ninth standard. The world is evolving technologically with the rise of artificial intelligence and “machine learning and we want to offer technology as a career option for girls. We must have equal opportunities for girls, especially those who are underserved.”
“We have brought aspects such as cyber security into the program, and we look forward to including other key domains of technology and expanding the content in the future. We also plan to take the program as a flagship initiative pan-India to include semi-urban locations going forward, ”Jha added.
Women in Technology
Lina Nair added, “Wells Fargo has an internal network, a self-driven community of” Women in Technology “that aims to attract, promote, enrich and retain female technical talent within Wells Fargo. It is’ a global program with local divisions, including India.The company invests in equipment needed for the program so that more students can come on board, backed by the CSR budget.The state governments were also proactive in ensuring active participation of the government schools. ”
Wells Fargo’s India Chapter of Women in Technology (WiT) was instrumental in pioneering the pilot program of this coding initiative.
Source: Telangana Today