More than 13,600 students from reserved categories have dropped out of central institutions, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the previous five years, according to information presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar submitted the numbers in a written response to a question from BSP member Ritesh Pandey in the Lok Sabha. Sarkar said that over the last five years, 4,596 OBC, 2,424 SC, and 2,622 ST students dropped out of Central Universities (CUs).
IITs had 2,066 OBC students, 1,068 SC students, and 408 ST students opt out, whereas IIMs had 163, 188, and 91 OBC, SC, and ST students, respectively.
More than 13,600 reserved-category students dropped out of central institutions, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).
“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,” said Sarkar.
“The migration/withdrawal, if any, is mainly on account of securing seats for the students in other departments or institutions of their choice or on any personal ground,” he goes on to say.
The minister conveyed that National Law Universities (NLUs) have been instituted under Acts enacted by the respective state legislatures, making them state universities. “No such data on dropout students of NLUs is maintained by the central government,” he adds, as reported by PTI.
To further respond to the question of what steps the government has taken to solve the problem, Sarkar said that the government has taken a number of activities, such as cutting tuition, creating new institutes, offering scholarships, and giving priority access to national-level scholarships. These initiatives are intended to assist students with low financial resources in their pursuit of an education.
“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.
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