More women are going in for higher education, says Minister

There has been a significant increase in the number of women students going in for higher education, thanks to the Pudhumai Penn Scheme, Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudy informed the Assembly on Friday.

In his reply at the end of the discussions on the demand for grants for the Higher Education Department, he said, “About 71% more women from the Scheduled Caste (Arunthathiyar) community and 51% more women belonging to the Backward Class (Muslim) community had enrolled in higher education in the academic year 2022-23, compared with 2021-22.” The policy note states that during 2021-22, 2,792 SC (Arunthathiyar) women had enrolled in the first year under the scheme. In the next academic year, the number rose to 4,761 candidates. Similarly, 1,940 women from the BC (Muslim) had enrolled during 2021-22. The number rose to 2,921 during 2022-23. G.K. Mani of the PMK urged the government to regularise the services of guest lecturers.