ITU-APT Foundation of India and CMAI
New Delhi, India, 2013, May 07
"International "Girls in ICT Day," is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of April every year and this year it was successfully celebrated in New Delhi as "Girls in ICT Day 2013", on the 7th may 2013.
The event was jointly organized by ITU-APT Foundation of India and CMAI which was held at the backdrop of the CMAI 7th NTA World Communication Awards.
Over 10 girls, man and women were felicitated for their outstanding contribution to the field of ICT and they were awarded a certificate of felicitation by Ms. Rita Teaotia, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecom, Government of India.
The welcome address by Mr. Anil Prakash, Secretary General, ITU-APT Foundation of India, a opening address by Madam Rita Teaotia, IAS, Addl, Secretary, Dept of Telecom and Concluded address by Madam Eun-Ju Kim, Regional Director, ITU Regional Office in Asia Pacific had added a great significance to the event. There was a panel discussion to highlight the importance of women in the ICT sector and to discuss their contributions, need and importance of women participation in ICT and ways to increase participation of women in the important sector.
The panel discussion was attended by representatives drawn from the who's who of the ICT sector and included senior executives Ms. Arundati Panda, Director, Bharat Broadband Networks Limited. Mr. Ashutosh Chadha, Director, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, INTEL, Ms. Swati Rangachari, Vice President and Head Corporate Affairs and Communications, Ericssion India, Mrs. Gertrude Mwangala Akapelwa Ehueni, Board Chairperson of the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), Ms. Tulika Pandey, Scientist, DietY, Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director at Center for Internet Society and Ms. Sangita Sanju, Regional Communications Asia, Middle East and Africa, Nokia Siemens Networks.
The program was a great success and over 150 participants from international dignitaries, Ambassadors, Ministers from foreign countries, students, young professionals, civil society & govt. representatives and the industry acknowledged the awards given to young girls who have contributed in the development of ICT and made a difference with their untiring enthusiasm, determination and working against all odds to make a difference.
This is being planned as an annual event by us to be held in India and we look forward to bigger event in future and to your continued support for the important cause of encouragement and inclusion of Girls in the ICT sector.
The Girls in ICT day 2013 being observed in New Delhi on the 7th may 2013 felicitated contribution of girls in the field of ICT . The following women/ girl were selected to be felicitated for their contribution in bringing change through ICT and making a difference to society by being a role model for others.
- Teacher Sharada Mani, Panchayat Union Middle School, Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu, India
Sharada used the ICT and Project Based Learning Methods of Intel ® Teach she encouraged her students to do research on social evils like illiteracy and child marriage. The students became so involved that they educated the community about the importance of girls' education and the vices of child marriage using posters and research evidence. Their painstaking efforts led to a child marriage being prevented by the Toda community by angry protests outside the temple
- Magdalene Premlatha, Teacher, Government Higher Secondary School in Ammaiyyappan village in Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu
Using ICT and Project Based Learning Techniques which she learnt during her Intel ® Teach training, she worked hard to remove the stigma and prejudice towards differently-abled children. Through her efforts and those of her students, they were able to mainstream 11 differently-abled children with different kinds of challenges into their school. Magdalene has used ICT in the past to effect various kinds of social changes – reduce the numbers of school dropouts, helping the community become aware of the ill-effects of tobacco usage, create awareness about rain water harvesting and waste management and generate alternate sources of employment for women in the village. In recognition of her efforts, the State government of Tamil Nadu has nominated her to participate in a national competition on ICT integration in Teaching organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Government of India.
- Jyamiti Pathak, Teacher, Government Upper Primary School, Rawla, Rajasthan
Jyamiti used the power of ICT to make learning enjoyable and engaging after her training in Intel ® Teach. In a context, where the local community saw no relevance of education, and where students ran off after the mid-day meal to help their parents in the fields, Sujatha's transformation of pedagogy, helped in significantly pushing up the enrolment in the school (it now has the highest number of students from all the schools in the area) and also in improving students' attendance by nearly 50 percent. More importantly, she realized the importance of involving the community in students' learning and through her efforts was also able to prevent a girl dropping out of school to get married.
- Sonia Manchanda, Co-promoter & COO, AIRSOFT
Sonia leads operations at Airsoft – a company that has been revolutionizing telecom management (B2B), helping enterprises to bring back lost profits and take back control of their telecom costs and assets. 'Audit' is a key component of Airsoft service portfolio which integrates with established back-end systems. Expansion of this unique man / machine telecom audit service to the individual (B2C) would be a new logical step.
Sonia was quick to spot the opportunity for a first ever cloud based automated mobile expense management in a B2C configuration, today named "Jago". This provides the common man a recourse to (a) verify if indeed he is being charged correctly, and as per agreed plans; (b) analysis to cut through the clutter and confusion of heavily bundled / opaque tariff plans and get plan with least bill, as per his usage; (c) check for hidden charges or if he is billed for services he does not use or even require – delivering Hard Cash Savings!
- Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan, Policy Director, The Centre for Internet and Society
Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan is a Policy Director with the Centre for Internet and Society, working in the areas of policy research and advocacy related to IP reform and technology access for persons with disabilities. She is involved in drafting the Indian National Policy for Electronic Accessibility and also works closely with different departments of the Government of India to bring accessibility into their policies and programmes. She has authored several reports on accessibility which are being used by policymakers worldwide. She has also presented papers on ICT and Accessibility at international fora like the IGF and is the Director, Global Reports, for G3ict. She has also participated in the World Blind Union Treaty negotiations at WIPO. Nirmita has won several awards for her work, one of which was the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, which she received from the President of India in December 2010. Her educational background includes degrees in Law, German and Music.
- Miss Aarushee Nair
Aarushee is a Class VIII Student from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi. She Designed the only Tetra Pack available globally, with Dual Outlet in 350ML+50ML Dispensation Patent applied for. Nominated for CSIR Innovation Award for School Children (CIASC-2013).
Aarushee was presented with a PC on her 3rd Birthday. An age when basic body Motors are fine-tuned, Aarushee was solving online jigsaw puzzles, creating colour patterns and controlling the mouse to draw. Like every child, Inquisitive in nature, once she started learning languages, Internet offered her a wealth of information. A throughout A Grader, presented with 9 Merit Certificates from her school since Nursery, she dominated the school computer lab in terms of understanding the subject quickly. An analytical mind helped her extract the right information from the Internet. It was during the start session of Class VIII, an article on Malnutrition and Diarrhea caught her attention. She discussed the same extensively with her class teacher, sought guidance on what all possibilities are available or could be created to address this issue. Various Data and Reports available on the internet with International bodies like UNICEF, WHO were closely studied and discussed with the School Teacher. Finally the problem was looked from an entirely different perspective - Packaging. Computer Models were created and tested before a prototype was developed successfully. Distribution of Clean Packaged Drinking Water with ORS to combat dehydration due to Diarrhea and Micronutrient Sachet with Clean Packaged Drinking Water under Mid Day Meal scheme would help over 13 Crore Children in India alone from under nourishment/Malnutrition and death due to Diarrhea. They would stay alive, go to school and become healthy Adult citizens of our Country.
