The dropout rate among Scheduled Castes (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST) students was disproportionately higher in India's centrally funded technical institutions between 2016 and 2020, Rajya Sabha data show. The conclusion was based on the number of fresh admissions and dropouts in 72 such institutes. While only 23% of those admitted were from the SC/ST communities, 31.5% of those who dropped out were from these communities. Also, ST students who dropped out formed 4.4% of ST admissions in the period considered while the overall average was only 2.5%.
The difference between the proportion of SC/ST dropouts (SC/ST dropouts as a % of total dropouts) and their proportion in admissions (SC/ST students as a % of overall admissions) was relatively very high in five IITs - Palakkad, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Madras and Delhi.
The difference between the SC/ST dropout rate (dropout in the category as a % of admissions in the same category) and the non-SC/ST dropout rate was relatively high in the IISER institutes.
Dropouts as a % of admissions
The chart depicts the students who dropped out between 2016 and 2020 as a share of students who were admitted in a category in the same period. For instance, 16,789 ST students were admitted between 2016 and 2020. In the same period, 743 ST students dropped out of their courses, which is 4.4% of those who were admitted.
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Dropout rate comparison
The horizontal axis depicts the SC/ST students who dropped out between 2016 and 2020 as a share of students admitted in that category in the same period. The vertical axis depicts the non-SC/ST students who dropped out between 2016 and 2020 as a share of students admitted in that category in the same period. Each dot corresponds to one of the 72 centrally funded technical institutes. The 47 institutes where the SC/ST dropout rate was higher than the non-SC/ST rate are marked in red, while the 25 where it the rate was the same or lower are marked in green. For instance, in IISER Pune, 253 SC/ST students were admitted between 2016 and 2020, while 52 students from the category dropped out in the same period (20.55%). On the other hand, 903 non-SC/ST students were admitted and 93 dropped out in the same period (10.30%). This is a difference of about 10% points in the dropout rate between the two categories.
Proportion of dropouts
The table lists the students from a category as a share of total admissions between 2016 and 2020 and the dropouts from a category as a share of total dropouts in the same period. For instance, 9% of students admitted in the period were ST, while 16% of students who dropped out were from the community. A minor disproportion was also observed among the SC students.
Institute wise dropout proportion
The vertical axis plots the SC/ST students who dropped out as a share of all dropouts between 2016 and 2020. The horizontal axis plots the SC/ST students who were admitted as a share of all admissions in the same period. The 47 institutes where the proportion of SC/ST students among dropouts were higher than the share of SC/ST students among admissions are marked in red. In the rest of the 25 institutes (marked in green), the SC/ST dropout rate was lesser than SC/ST admission rate.
Source: Parliamentary Q&A
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