The Human Resource Development (HRD) minister said the number of girl students in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has grown from 8% in 2016 to 18% in 2019 for the Bachelor of Technology or B.Tech programmes. Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the HRD minister said in a tweet that government introduced the women-only seats, or supernumerary seats, to increase the enrolment of girl students in premier technology institutes like IITs and NITs.
Based on multiple studies and a panel recommendation, the IITs in 2018, had come up with a method to bridge the gender gap through supernumerary seats.
In the same year, the institutes decided to add an overall 800 seats across all IITs dedicated only to girl students.
The panel had suggested creating up to 20 per cent supernumerary seats for girls out of the total number of seats.
The recommendation of the committee was later taken up in the meeting of the joint admission board (JAB) for a final decision, which decided to install the reservation in effect from 2018.
Based on the recommendations of the Committee, the JAB decided to increase female enrollment in IITs from 8% in 2016 to 14% in 2018-19, 17% in 2019-20 and 20% in 2020-21 by creating supernumerary seats.
"With a view to improving female enrolment in the B.Tech Programmes in IITs, a Committee under the chairmanship of Director, IIT-Mandi was constituted by the Joint Admission Board (JAB) to suggest suitable measures. The recommendations of the Committee were considered by the IIT Council in its 51st meeting held on 28.04.2017 and decided to increase female enrolment from the current 8% to 14% in 2018-19, 17% in 2019-20 and 20% in 2020-21 by creating supernumerary seats," an HRD statement said in January 2019.
Reserving seats for girls to address the gender disparity in technical education.
- Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) March 2, 2020
The women-only seats, or supernumerary seats, have been introduced to increase the enrolment of girl students in IITs and NITs.#BetiPadhaoDeshBadhao#IWD#IWD2020 pic.twitter.com/MvP0JivoLh
Click here for more Education News
