In order to encourage female students to pursue advanced education and engage in research, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has introduced the Pragati Scholarship and the TechSaksham Programme (TSP) for women. The Pragati Scholarship, initiated in 2014, aims to provide scholarships to accomplished female students, motivating them to pursue higher education. AICTE is granting 10,000 Pragati scholarships to girls entering technical education, Subhas Sarkar, education minister, West Bengal, said in a written statement at Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament.

The TechSaksham Programme serves as a supplementary initiative, utilising experiential learning to cultivate employability skills among underserved female students pursuing advanced education, the minister stated.

According to World Bank Gender Data accessed in 2023, the percentage of female graduates in STEM as a part of tertiary education in India was 42.7% in 2018. In comparison, the corresponding figures for the United States (2016) were 34%, the United Kingdom (2016) stood at 38.1%, Australia (2017) was 32.1%, and Germany (2017) recorded 27.6%. These statistics highlight the positive trend of increasing female representation in STEM fields in India compared to several other countries, it added.