India has one of the largest public education systems in the world with 250 million school going children. While India has a rich history of scientists and mathematicians, the post-independence era has been a challenging journey of development. The learning divide caused by urban and rural regions and gender influence the career trajectories of millions of these children. 

84% Indian schools are in rural and tribal areas with limited access to quality resources
64% of enrolled children alone make it to secondary education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
40% of India’s STEM graduates are women, yet only 14% are actively engaged in STEM careers.
76% Indian women believe that men are more suited for a career in science and technology

Mantra4Change’s program aims to bridge this regional and gender influenced gap in Science learning and restore agency in children, especially girls and those in rural India.


Restoring Agency for girls through STEM Education

We aim to impact 50 million children in the Indian public education via planned school improvements like active STEM labs.

Mantra4ChangeUS (M4CUS) is a 501c3 organization supporting Mantra4Change-India’s (M4C) initiatives for school transformation and quality education in India. M4C is a non-profit organization established in 2013 with the vision to enrich learning experiences for all children. M4C aspires to impact 50 million children by 2025 through enabling education leaders to lead improvements across 250k schools.

In partnership with State governments, our School Transformation Empowerment Program (STEP) is actively implemented in 5 states; Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka.

With 250 million children in public education in India, systemic reform addressing scale, speed and sustainability is crucial. We focus mainly on under-served geographies and enable stakeholders in the system to plan and drive transformative improvements in schools and inspire the larger ecosystem to bring about effective and sustainable change.
STEM for girls is one of our main school transformation initiatives in Andhra Pradesh. The State is home to 103 communities from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Communities (OBCs), constituting 52% of the population. To mitigate the social, economic, and educational disadvantages faced by these communities, the State has established Residential Schools for children from the ST, SC and OBC communities. Despite this well-intentioned effort, the initiative is lagging in the promise to provide equitable and quality education for the children to thrive in this technological age. The gender divide poses further challenges for girls.

Our STEM for girls initiative specifically addresses this challenge with intervention in 47 Residential Schools for Girls in the State and will reach 16,450 girls.  We establish Tinkering Labs for STEM and train science teachers to enable children to connect science concepts to a working model. By creating a rich experiential learning environment, our STEM Labs are spaces where girls can create, invent, tinker, investigate, explore, and discover using a variety of tools and materials. This enhances their critical thinking, scientific temperament and curiosity about how things are done, unfolding their creative potential and building their confidence. With improved learning outcomes in science and maths, girls from these marginalized communities break the long held stereotype that girls cannot excel in STEM subjects and open pathways for pursuing STEM in further education or professionally. 

STEM education is crucial for future readiness and cultivating 21st century skills and carries a huge potential for girls from underprivileged communities to lift themselves and their families out of the cycle of poverty and deprivation.

Join us on this journey of hope for the future of marginalized girls with your generous support and donations.



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Restoring Agency for girls through STEM Education

Mantra4ChangeUS

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