Dip in girls entering IITs; govt sets up panel

KOLKATA: The union ministry of human resource development has set up a committee to address concerns regarding a one percentage point decline in the number of girl students entering the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Of the 10,576 students admitted to the 22 IITs and the lone Indian School of Mining this year, the number of girls was 847 or 8.01%, down from 9% in 2015. IIT-Kharagpur has the highest number of girl students, but the number has come down from 118 to 111.
"Traditionally, the percentage of girls has never been very high at the IITs. It has ranged between 10 and 12. Many parents- particularly those in rural areas-feel that engineering is for boys," said an IIT professor.
The IITs are autonomous public institutes of higher education with a common admission process for undergraduate admissions.
The ministry's additional secretary, R Subramanyam, said the reasons for the decline would be known after the committee submitted its report. The committee-to be chaired by IIT-Mandi director Timothy A. Gonsalves-will also suggest ways to get more girls to the IITs.
Former director of IIT-Delhi, Surendra Prasad, said, "It's not a trend. Maybe, girls did not perform that well this year," he said.