Hackathons Making Education More Accessible for Girls in India

NEW DELHI, October 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

While India takes pride in its IITs and IIMs, a large number of girls quietly drop out from education school-level onwards. 'Hack4Her' aims to change this scenario. It is a unique hackathon organised by Women's Education Project India, in association with TechGig and Random Hacks of Kindness, India.

You swell with pride when your child bids you 'bye' happily at her school gate. Her education is her passport to an independent life and a confident future. But are all girls in India this fortunate?

Female literacy in India stands at just 65.46% (2011 census), when the world average is 79.7%. Furthermore, the school dropout rate amongst adolescent Indian girls is 63.5%, which means that most girls going to school right now will gradually fallout from the education fold and may get into employment or family life even when their education stands at bay.

This may sound like a common practice in many households and the outcomes stand out as child brides, young mothers and women with little or no access to basic necessities in life.

As we read this quietly wearing a thoughtful look, a big question stands tall - are we doing enough to bridge the gap between Indian women and their education?

Of course the government and other agencies are doing their bit but what about the rest of us? Each of us is an agent of change and there is no dearth of opportunities to bring about any change.

Women's Education Project (WEP) India - an international organisation which supports women education - has organised a unique hackathon titled 'Hack4Her' to find new-age solutions to promote women education in the country. WEP India has joined hands with TechGig and Random Hacks of Kindness, India for this unique contest, which invites everyone to share ideas and ways to promote women education, and welfare at large. 

Anybody - irrespective of age, gender, location, or education - can submit his disruptive ideas to help bridge the gap between women and education at the TechGig website. One can submit his idea either in PPT or PDF formats. Speaking of this association, Dipti Tandon, Product Head, TechGig said, "We are excited to partner with Women's Education Project and Random Hacks of Kindness, India for Hack4Her. At TechGig, we strongly believe in making women the forefront of all endeavours. We have the Geek Goddess series where we celebrate the feats of women coders exclusively. We are hopeful that Hack4Her will give light to many ideas that will boost tech solutions to enhance women education."

Ramathreya Krishnamurthi, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig, too expressed his aspirations from this hackathon. He said, "India is marching on to become a progressive society, however women-related issues continue to be ignored and that is a big drawback in our society's mobilisation. With Hack4Her, we hope to have not just one or two, but more than a dozen of bright ideas that will ignite the cause of women education in India. TechGig is committed towards making technology a forefront of our daily lives and we keep hosting world-class coding contests to promote that idea; being part of this hackathon is one such move. We invite everyone to share their ideas to promote women education."

The team from Women's Education Project India is equally excited about this partnership. "Women's Education Project India conceptualised the idea of Hack4Her in the context of some real challenges faced by a woman to pursue her education in India. Here, we are talking about women in rural parts of the country who drop out due to various socio-economic reasons. By addressing some of the resolvable challenges, through this hackathon, we are taking baby steps to ensure our women in the coming generations don't drop out of schools and colleges for reasons that could have been just a hack away. This hackathon is one step closer to make a woman self-reliant and independently empowered through education," said Shruthi Dinkar, Director, Women's Education Project India.

The participants too are excited about this contest. Since this hackathon was made live on TechGig, more than 1,916 registrations have already taken place. This is just an initial number which is rising with every passing day.

The hackathon winner will take home a prize of Rs. 80,000 and shortlisted candidates will get to present their ideas at Women's Education Project India's Forum on Nov 11, 2017. Details are mentioned at https://www.techgig.com/hackathon/Hack4Her#overview.

About TechGig: 

TechGig is India's biggest community for tech professionals to help them learn, showcase and compete in the IT industry.

Media Contact:
Neha Singh Verma
Head of Corporate Communications
TimesJobs - Times Business Solutions Limited (A division of Times Internet Ltd)
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