CSR: STEM labs set up in six government-run schools in Chikkaballapur, rural Karnataka with CSR support

Bengaluru, India: Sabre Corporation, a leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, is working to improve education standards and future career opportunities for students in some of India’s most deprived areas, through the creation of new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) labs.

Together with not-for-profit organization United Way Bengaluru (UWBe), Sabre has supported STEM labs in six Government-run schools in Chikkaballapur, rural Karnataka, close to Bengaluru. Many of the schools are based in what are classed as underprivileged areas, and Sabre’s contribution will improve the education of around 1,600 students from 26 villages every year. Around 1,000 of these are from a girls-only school, supporting the drive to encourage more women to enter technology fields. The labs will make complex subjects and concepts easier to understand while opening up new learning and career paths.

“Sabre is committed to serving our communities and driving positive social change, so we’re incredibly proud to be involved in such a meaningful initiative,” said Sriram Gopalswamy, Vice President, Site Reliability Engineering, & Managing Director, Sabre India. “Our STEM labs are especially important given the talent shortage facing the global technology industry. They will make a real difference by encouraging more children to develop an interest in science and technology, take up further studies in these subjects and, ultimately, pursue science or technology-based career paths. We hope that one day, we’ll be welcoming some of these students to join our journey with a career at Sabre as we continue to innovate for the future of travel.”

Sabre’s pioneering capability centre in India’s silicon-valley, Bengaluru, plays a major role in developing industry-leading solutions for the travel business and provides a strong IT backbone for Sabre’s global operations. It is a workplace where agile transformation based on lean start-up thinking is built daily, and the teams in Bengaluru support airlines, hotels, travel agencies, travel management companies, and other travel companies across the country.

The new STEM labs will take learning beyond textbooks and into first-hand, practical experiences; fostering critical thinking, problem solving, and analytical mindsets, while encouraging students to improve communication skills through teamwork. This is expected to help to build confidence among students, while reducing the number of those dropping out from school. All six new STEM labs were inaugurated at a special opening ceremony where students from the schools presented models, they had created through learning activities in their new labs to teachers along with special guests from Sabre, UWBe, the Deputy Director Public Instruction, and Block Education Officers.