AISHE Report: SC/ST/OBC admissions to improve in 2021-22; Enrollment in government universities is more than 70%

There has been a steady improvement in the enrollment of SC/ST/OBC students in the higher education system – 44 per cent for SC, 65 per cent for ST and 50 per cent for OBC in 2021-22 compared to 2014-15. developed. ,

The All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE 2021-22) report released by the Education Ministry late on Thursday highlighted an overall growth in higher education enrollments of 4.58 per cent from 2020-21 and 26.5 per cent from 2014-15; And the admission of female students has steadily improved over the years.

The report gives data sets and details of student enrolment, number of teachers and higher education institutions in the country. This includes 1,162 universities, 45,473 colleges and 12,002 standalone higher education institutions in the country. The ministry has been issuing these since 2011.

The report said enrollment of SC students in higher education has increased by 44 percent in 2021-22. As many as 66.23 lakh such students took admission, whereas in 2014-15 the number was 46.07 lakh.

Also, there has been a significant increase in the enrollment of female students in the SC category during this period, with 31.71 lakh girls enrolled in 2021-22, compared to 29.01 lakh girls in 2020-21 and 21.02 lakh girls in 2014-15. The report said this is an increase of 51 percent.

Similarly, for the ST category, enrollment increased from 16.41 lakh in 2014-15 to 27.1 lakh students in 2021-33. In case of OBC students, enrollment has increased from 1.13 crore in 2014-15 to 1.63 crore in 2021-22. The report said that the number of female students from OBC category has also increased significantly by 45 percent.

increase in enrollment

The gross enrollment ratio (GER) has also increased from 23.7 in 2014-15 to 28.4 in 2021-22. GER in 2020-21 was 27.3.

The report shows that government-run universities constitute 58.6 percent of the total and contribute 73.7 percent of the total enrolment. The share of private universities in total enrollment is 26.3 percent.

The total number of students passing out from the higher education system has also increased to 1.07 crore in 2021-22, from 95.4 lakh in 2020-21, the report said.

What are the experts saying?

Academics said the improvement in SC/ST/OBC admissions over the last few years is an encouraging trend, as most of these students are from humble backgrounds and backward states as well as rural areas. And, therefore, there are limited opportunities for youth to enroll in higher education in such places.

Professor Hansraj Suman of Delhi University’s Aurobindo College, who is the all-India head of the Forum of Academics for Social Justice, said that if this trend continues, it will help clear the backlog for reserved category students, who have to be has been abandoned before.

The report shows a substantial increase in intake, which has been possible mainly due to two reasons. “First, a large number of government-run higher education institutions have come up in the last five years, allowing more students from SC/ST categories, mainly from backward states and rural areas, to gain admission to college. Second, the 10% economically weaker section (EWS) quota introduced in all educational institutions in 2019-20 has helped a large number of students secure seats in colleges,” Suman said.

On January 7, 2019, the central government approved 10 percent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions in the unreserved category for EWS. This is in addition to the existing 50 percent reservation for SC/ST/OBC categories.