In the last five years, more than 13,600 students from reserved categories withdrew from central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), as Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar informed the Lok Sabha on Monday in response to a query by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Ritesh Pandey.
The minister, while presenting the statistics in a written reply, mentioned that 4,596 OBC, 2,424 SC, and 2,622 ST students dropped out in the past five years. In IITs, 2,066 OBCs, 1,068 SCs, and 408 STs left their courses. In IIMs, the figures stood at 163, 188, and 91 for OBC, SC, and ST students, respectively.
"In the higher education sector, students have multiple options, and they choose to migrate across institutions and from one course/programme to another in the same institution. The migration/withdrawal, if any, is mainly on account of securing seats by the students in other departments or institutions of their choice or on any personal ground," Mr Sarkar said.
The minister stated that National Law Universities (NLUs) were established through Acts passed by individual state legislatures, making them state universities. He mentioned that the central government did not maintain data on dropout rates in NLUs.
"No such data on dropout students of NLUs is maintained by the central government," the minister said.
In response to the query about government actions to address this issue, Mr Sarkar said that several measures have been taken, including reducing fees, establishing additional institutes, providing scholarships, and granting priority access to national-level scholarships for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
He also highlighted specific schemes benefiting SC and ST students, such as the 'waiver of tuition fees in IITs,' national scholarships under the Central Sector Scheme, and scholarships in various institutes.
"For the welfare of SC and ST students, schemes like 'waiver of tuition fees in IITs', grant of national scholarships under Central Sector Scheme, scholarships in Institutes, etc., are also there," he said