Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched the ‘IITM School Connect’ program to assist students in making well-informed decisions about their careers and higher education. In order to address this, school students can enrol in two certificate programs in "Electronic Systems" and "Data Science and Artificial Intelligence."

Professors at IIT Madras designed the courses, which feature material that is especially suited for classroom use. These courses, which will be taught online, are designed to give students in Classes XI and XII practical work experience. The classes are scheduled to run for eight weeks. Over 500 Indian schools have partnered with IIT Madras as a result of the initiative's strong enthusiasm.

Batch Details

In the initial batch, up to 11,000 students from all around India have already been enrolled. All partnering school students in Classes XI and XII are eligible to apply for these certification programs. The following batch is scheduled to start on October 21, 2024. On September 16, 2024, registrations for this cohort already opened.

The purpose of these introductory courses is to provide students with a better understanding of these subjects so they may make well-informed decisions on their future careers and higher education.

Highlighting the importance of this program to the development of students, Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, Chair, Centre for Outreach and Digital Education (CODE), IIT Madras, said, “IIT Madras sees it as our social responsibility to help school students explore various career options at an early stage while they are still in school. Currently, we are offering two key courses — Data Science and AI and Electronic Systems; we are planning to introduce more such hands-on programs in the coming months, catering to a wider range of interests.”

Course Poster

The Key Highlights of the certificate course programs include:

Talking about the benefit for school students, Prof. Vignesh Muthuvijayan, Faculty Coordinator, BS Degree, IIT Madras, said, “The response from schools and students has been overwhelmingly positive. We are thrilled to collaborate with schools nationwide to offer these short programs for school children.  Children are naturally inquisitive, and it's always a pleasure to interact with them as they come with a multitude of questions. Nurturing their curiosity is both fulfilling and essential for shaping their future.”