Education Technology | Innovations and Insights - Edinbox

Despite a decade of progress in education, women are still severely underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) as a field, the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) finds. Data from 2018-2023 shows that women comprised just 35% of global STEM graduates, with no to little progress toward reducing the gender gap over the past decade.

It attributes this stagnation to entrenched gender stereotypes and a conspicuous lack of confidence among girls in fields like mathematics — even when their grades are equal or superior to those of the boys. These early setbacks, officials say, have far-reaching consequences and influence career decisions.

The gap between the sexes is even wider in the virtual workplace.

According to GEM statistics, only 26% of data science and artificial intelligence experts are women, with representation dropping even lower in specialist fields such as cloud computing (12%) and engineering (15%). One in four women with a degree in IT in the European Union goes on to work in the digital industry, whereas more than half of their male counterparts follow suit.

"Men are taking over the digital revolution and that's a loss for society at large," GEM team member said, emphasizing the need to diversify the pool of tech talent driving the pursuit of innovation.

While 68% of countries have national policies supporting STEM education, only half of those include specific measures to encourage girls and women. In response, UNESCO has launched an advocacy brief calling for targeted reforms to make STEM education more inclusive and gender-responsive.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE

Gender-sensitive career counselling in schools to help girls envision themselves in STEM and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Training school administrators and teachers to identify and counteract gender bias in the curriculum and classroom.

Developing female-led STEM clubs and mentorship programs to provide role models and experience in the real world.

Partnering with local industries and professionals to expose girls to successful women working in STEM fields.

Developing digital literacy models that ensure equal access for both female and male students to develop essential 21st-century skills.

The memo also highlights the importance of early action. From gender-neutral language in writing to introducing girls to classrooms who are female STEM professionals, the focus is to integrate science and technology in a way that is relevant and comprehensible to girls from the outset.

"Teachers are the catalysts for changing attitudes and boosting confidence. By helping girls overcome math phobia and linking STEM to their realities, we can construct a more equitable and creative future," the advocacy note concludes.

UNESCO's report is a call to wake-up for teachers, policymakers, and communities to remove systemic barriers stopping half the world's potential inventors.

Chegg announced on Monday it would reduce its staff by approximately 22%, or 248 workers, in an effort to save money and streamline operations as more students rely on artificial intelligence-based tools like ChatGPT instead of legacy edtech solutions.

The company, an online education firm that offers textbook rentals, homework help and tutoring, has been grappling with a decline in web traffic for months and warned that the trend would likely worsen before improving.

Google's rollout of AI Overviews is keeping web traffic within its search ecosystem while increasingly routing searches to its Gemini AI platform, Chegg added, noting other AI firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic were wooing scholars with grants for free subscription access.

As a part of the restructuring on Monday, Chegg is also closing its U.S. and Canada offices within the year and trying to scale back on its marketing, product development initiatives and general and administrative costs.

Most of the resulting charges of between $34 million and $38 million are to be taken within the second and third quarters.

Chegg forecasts cost savings of $45 million to $55 million in 2025 and $100 million to $110 million in 2026 from restructuring.

It also released first-quarter results on Monday, reporting that subscribers fell 31% during the period to 3.2 million. Revenue fell 30% to $121 million, as its revenue from subscription services dropped by almost a third to $108 million.

Chegg sued Google in February alleging Google's web search engine was eroding original content demand and destabilizing publishers' competitiveness with its artificial intelligence-produced summaries, consequently leading to a decline in visitors and subscribers.

Chegg employed 1,271 people as of December 31.

The global education system was tested to the unprecedented level by the pandemic of COVID-19, but also to a new response. In rural Odisha village, a junior teacher Priyanka embodied such innovation. Using the challenge of how to teach children who did not even have smartphones and fixed internet access, she employed WhatsApp voice messages and radio stations to give directions. This alternative approach not only provided continuity of instruction but also brought into perspective the future of low-technology interventions in closing the knowledge gap.

India's NEP 2020 has set serious emphasis on digital-first learning induced by intervention across the digital learning framework and deployment via television and radio. The e-learning laboratory and tablet-classroom implementations were initiated for the first time in Kerala and Maharashtra. But all that glory is accompanied with problems that still beset it. Internet coverage in rural village locales stands at 24% of networked homes, but still 42% of networked homes are in cities. Furthermore, educators too are not yet properly trained with digital technology competencies, and scale, unbridled use of untested EdTech tools undermine pedagogy and data privacy. India's lessons are belated, but timely, ones for other countries, particularly the Global South. They are:

Low-tech solutions: Radio, SMS, and offline mobile apps can be utilized in order to access students in low density pockets of internet reach. NCERT's e-pathshala offline app, for example, has gone the extra mile in accessing education content to non-internet students.

Public-private collaborations: Public-private collaborations among the state and EdTech companies can fuel innovation and scaling already visible through startup creation in the style of BYJU'S and Unacademy.

Decentralizing innovation: Grass-root campaigns like Kerala's "Little KITEs" effort to teach students as digital ambassadors are just the ticket.

Teacher training a priority: Projects like Tamil Nadu's "TechSaksham" program to give 150,000 teachers training on tech tools embody the teacher-readiness imperative.

Student privacy protection: With greater EdTech penetration occurring, there must be tougher privacy policies in place to avoid exposing students to exploitation.

Equity and inclusion must be the sole impelling forces behind India's EdTech revolution for all. This involves:

Erasing rural-urban digital divide: Offline-first applications and affordable devices like second-hand mobile phones can be the catalysts in rural areas.

Creating mother-tongue content: Local-language learning material at affordable rates can bridge language gaps and expand access to learning.

Learning outcome measurement: Rather than app download measurement silos, measuring effect on learning outcome of EdTech intervention is a requirement.

India's EdTech model is a model that can be followed by other countries in the Global South. By adopting innovation, equity, and inclusion, we can have a more inclusive and improved education system. We policymakers, teachers, and journalists need to ask hard questions about what are the implications of EdTech programs and how to build a world where every child will learn anywhere.

In a relief action, Anna University has issued a special arrear exam for UG and PG students who had exhausted their maximum attempts to clear failed papers. The move will relieve an estimated 10,000 students in Tamil Nadu.

Following the university regulations, BTech and BE students were provided with 14 semesters (three years beyond the course duration) to finish their course. All the students who had exhausted all their 14 chances but could not clear arrears are being provided with the last opportunity under this special examination.

The arrear test will be conducted only for the students of non-autonomous affiliated colleges who have exceeded the specified time according to university norms," stated Anna University in an official communication.

The special test is tentatively proposed to be conducted in the months of June or July and will be conducted at the centres chosen by the state as per the registrations. Chennai, Villupuram, Arni, Salem, Erode, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Madurai, Tirunelveli, and Nagercoil are a few of the centres proposed.

Eligible students can provide the exam online via the university's official portal: [coe1.annauniv.edu](http://coe1.annauniv.edu). Steps to register as well as step-by-step guides are available for download online. Cut-off date for registration is May 17.

The Anna University decision is the much-awaited second chance for the students whose professional career in the course of study was doubtful previously, providing them with a chance to obtain their degrees and seek professional opportunities.

Uttar Pradesh's technical and vocational training will be made job oriented. Internship and apprenticeship opportunities will be provided to the students. Engineering colleges in Basti, Gonda, Mirzapur and Pratapgarh will be operational on campuses from next session. These orders were issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in review meeting of technical education. ITI has been modernized in association with Tata Technology and students' placement has also increased.

Highlights

Every student must receive employment assurance, technical education must be industry-oriented: CM

CM Yogi Adityanath reviewed the technical and vocational education in a meeting

State Bureau, Lucknow.  Technical and vocational education will be totally employment-oriented, so that each student gets a chance to enter the industries. Technical education will no longer be restricted only to degree now. Each student will also receive a chance of internship and apprenticeship.

From the next session, the newly formed engineering colleges of Basti, Gonda, Mirzapur and Pratapgarh will function from their campuses. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued a number of significant instructions considering the future of the students in the review meeting of technical and vocational education at his residence on Kalidas Marg on Friday.

CM Yogi conducted a meeting

There are 324 government and 2982 private ITIs operating in the state. 212 government ITIs have been transformed into state-of-the-art through the assistance of Tata Technology. In 2024-25, 1.25 lakh youth have received apprenticeship and employment, and over 30 thousand students have applied in the PM Internship Scheme.

While that is happening, the placements of technical institutes have also picked up pace. This year 1.64 lakh students have been placed in Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) and the highest package is Rs 59.91 lakh per annum. The students have even been given packages of up to Rs 52 lakh in MMMUT University, Gorakhpur.

CM Yogi provided these directives

Having observed these statistics of the development of technical education and state institutions, the Chief Minister ordered that like government and aided polytechnic institutions, private institutions must also be covered under the State Institutional Ranking Framework (SIRF), so that quality is maintained everywhere.

All the institutes were requested to step forward with complete preparedness for NBA, NAAC and NIRF ranking. It was also made clear that no deserving student who undergoes admission should be denied scholarship and fee reimbursement.

 Opportunity for internship will be provided to students

The Chief Minister emphasized that education in technical institutions should not be merely a degree but become a source of practical knowledge and self-sufficiency. Each youth should be provided with opportunities based on his abilities, so that the vision of 'self-reliant India' can be achieved. Technical Education Minister Ashish Patel, Vocational Education Minister Kapil Dev Agarwal, Technical Education Minister Ashish Patel were also present during the meeting.

Sanctioned strength for post-graduate technology and engineering courses fell from 1.81 lakh in 2018-19 to around 1.30 lakh in 2023-24, numbers used in the release by AICTE show. (File photo) (Hindustan Times)

Among the steps to reverse dwindling MTech course admissions, India's technical education watchdog All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has also suggested increasing the postgraduate scholarship awarded to the students.

It has suggested to the Education Ministry increasing the scholarship amount by 50% from the current Rs. 12,400 a month.

The AICTE had, in June, written to the Ministry that scholarship of postgraduate students should, at least, be enhanced by Rs. 18,600 on a proposed 50% increase. The letter had claimed that the previous increase had been proposed by the Ministry itself in 2015. This and other proposals such as proposal for grants were once again brought to the notice of the Ministry in early March this year.

The Ministry, 18 February, 2015, informed the AICTE and to IITs, NITs, and IISERs regarding the increase in AICTE approved and Central Funded Technical Institutions' scholarship value for PhD and MTech/ME courses. Scholarship in MTech course has been increased from Rs. 8000 to Rs. 12,400 monthly. Having already levied a draconian 50% increase till now, this time too, the AICTE demanded the same type of 50% increase, sources said.

June of the previous year, while writing to the Ministry, AICTE had requested on the basis that there was a declining number of admissions into postgraduate classes of engineering and technology courses being taught in AICTE-approved colleges.