Girls4Tech Debuts in India

MasterCard has announced the launch of Girls4Tech, its signature education program to drive interest and encourage STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers for middle school girls in India.

This hands-on, inquiry-based workshop is centered on global science and math standards and was created in conjunction with MasterCard’s top engineers and technologists.The program also showcases the connection between payments technologies and STEM principles. With six stations based on algorithms, digital convergence, fraud detection, local network intelligence, cryptology and big data, the workshop helps bring to life the relevance of classroom learning in an engaging manner. MasterCard employees will serve as mentors and role models, and guide participants through the various exercises.

The workshop will be launched with The Air Force School at MasterCard Centre of Excellence in Gurgaon. Subsequent workshops are planned for Mumbai, Pune and other cities later this year and next.

“Many children go through science or math educationin the classroom, and find it hard to connect it to everyday life. We hope to transform this mindset by bringing innovation to their doorsteps and showing the impact of STEM in their everyday lives,” said Susan Warner,Vice President, Worldwide Communications, MasterCard. “The challenge is even more acute among young women, who may not consider career options in STEM. India offers a global hotbed of technology talent, and our goal is to inspire these young people to build their skills in STEM to become the problem solvers of tomorrow.”

Launched in April 2014, more than 300 girls have participated in the Girls4Tech workshops in the US and Germany. MasterCard is now taking the program global to India, the UK and Dubai in 2015, with additional markets to follow.