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- MHRD has directed all the 23 IITs to ensure that 14% seats are allocated to female students.
- The 14% seats allocated to girls will be supernumerary and will have no effect on the number of seats available for boys.
In the most recent move to increase the girl intake at IITs, the Government has revealed that a committee comprising members from the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of the IITs have laid down a roadmap to increase the number of girls studying in IITs. The committee has decided to increase the female intake at IITs. Following is the year-wise plan for the same:
Pans to Increase in Female Enrollment at IITs:
| Year | Percentage Increase |
|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 14% |
| 2019-20 | 17% |
| 2020-21 | 20% |
Another good news for female JEE aspirants is that the HRD Ministry has directed the premier engineering institutes, i.e., Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to prepare a separate merit list for girls from the next academic session (2018-19). According to MHRD, IITs should have at least 14% female students at their respective campuses.
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The IIT authorities will publish a separate merit list only after calculating the percentage of female students who have secured admission through the common merit list. For example, if an IIT’s merit list has only 6% of female students, the authorities will have to come up with extra girls-only merit list to increase the percentage of female students up to 14%.
With this new initiative, there would be no change in the number of seats available for boys in IITs. As per MHRD rules, the 14% seats allocated to girls in IITs will be ‘supernumerary’. Earlier, the proposal for reserving seats for female students by MHRD drew a mixed response from experts. A few officials have claimed that the government is trying to implement gender reservation at the premier institutes.
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A few experts pointed that the extra girls-only merit list would be of no use, as less meritorious will gain admission at IITs. It would be even difficult for IITs to organise special bridge courses and remedial classes for the female students getting admission through extra girls-only merit list. In all, the government must not force IITs to implement 14% female students rule. With the new rule of HRD Ministry, IITs will have to increase the number of seats. All the reservation norms will be applicable for all the extra seats.
The government has also asked the UGC to launch fellowships and scholarships especially for students in order to attract more female students in the education sector. Exclusive universities for women will also be started where girls will be offered free education up to PG courses. The newly launched Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has also approved 232 women institutes for higher education across various states. Various other measures have been taken to attract more girls in higher education.
