Percentage of Girls in IITs on the Rise: HRD Minister
Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal, the HRD Minister was quick to point out the initiatives taken in the 51st meeting of the IIT Council which has contributed to the growth in the number of female students enrolling themselves for IIT B.Tech programmes.
The percentage of girl students studying B.Tech in the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) has risen to 18% according to Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal. As per the HRD Minister, the percentage of girl students in B.Tech programmes at IITs was 8% in the year 2016 which stood at 18% in 2019. In his tweet, Mr Pokhriyal was quick to point out the reason behind this steady increase of female students in IITs and NITs which is the decision to introduce supernumerary or women-only seats to bridge the gender gap in premier national institutions.
In the year 2018, the IITs devised a way to increase the number of girl students with the introduction of supernumerary seats on the basis of panel recommendation and multiple studies. The decision to add 800 more seats across all IITs was taken in the same year by the institutes for girl students. On the basis of the suggestion from the panel, it was decided that out of the total number of seats 20% will be supernumerary seats for girls. In a meeting of the Joint Admission Board (JAB), the committee recommendation was taken into consideration and a decision was reached that the reservation policy will be applied from 2018 onwards.
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The decision to increase girl students in IITs from 8% in 2016 to 14% in 2018-19, 17% in 2019-20 and 20% in 2020-21 was taken by the JAB on the basis of the Committee’s recommendations by creating supernumerary seats.
To increase the enrolment of female students in the B.Tech programmes of IITs, the JAB formed a committee headed by the Director of IIT Mandi for suggestions regarding suitable measures. The IIT Council considered the recommendations of the committee in its 51st meeting and reached a decision to increase the number of female students studying B.Tech in IITs from 8% in 2014 to 20% in 2020-21.
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