President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said girls often outscored boys in board examinations, colleges and universities, but their number was “distressingly low” in the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and it had to be increased.
In 2017, of the 1,60,000 candidates who appeared for the IIT joint entrance examination, only 30,000 were girls. Of the 10,878 students who were admitted to the institute’s undergraduate classes in the same year, only 995 were girls, he said, while delivering the 64th convocation address of IIT Kharagpur.
“This issue continues to puzzle me... This cannot go on, we need to do something about these numbers,” he said.
“When one considers board exams, girls do very well. They often outscore boys. In colleges and universities I visit across country, I find girl students tend to win more medals than their male counterparts. [But, in the IITs], the intake of girl students is distressingly low,” he said.
Of the 11,653 students enrolled in IIT Kharagpur, only 1,925 are girls — a little over 16%. Participation of women in higher education and in science and technology in the country “has to rise to a fair and acceptable level in the coming decade and this should be a national priority, and the IIT committee must take the lead”.
“Without meeting this challenge and creating work opportunity for girls and young women, the development of society can never be complete. This is as critical for social equality as it is for economic growth,” he noted.
West Bengal's feat
West Bengal (where IIT Kharagpur is located) has “historically produced illustrious women achievers who have contributed a great deal to nation-building and to society. One of them — Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — is with us,” he said.
Mr. Kovind also talked about the IIT Kharagpur's initiative — with support from the Infosys Foundation — to fund women researchers who wish to attend international conferences. The institute has created 113 supernumerary seats for girl students in the undergraduate programme.
These were good steps taken by the first IIT of the country but a long road lay ahead, he said.
Mr. Kovind also referred to the contributions of J.C. Bose, S.N. Bose, Meghnad Saha and many others in scientific research.
Ms. Banerjee and West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi were the guests of honour at the convocation.
