Government Instructs IITs for 14% Girls Reservation and Prepare Separate Merit List

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has decided the percentage of female students in IITs to be 14%. The ministry has directed the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to prepare a separate merit list for girls from next academic session, i.e., 2018-19 to set a number of girls on each IIT campus.

IIT authorities will see the common merit list first and check the percentage of girls in that list. If the percentage of girls is less than 14%, then IITs will have to release a separate vertical for girls-only merit list to fill the gap and extend the percentage of girls up to 14%. 

In its directions, the Government cleared that the number of girls to be increased up to 14% which will be ‘supernumerary’, i.e., number of boys’ students should not be reduced. The circular of Ministry to IITs follows sessions with law ministry but has no protests against ‘introduction of gender reservation in IIT without calling it by that name’. The directions by HRD Ministry are a part of long-term plan to increase the number of female students in IITs up to 20% of total numbers of students by 2026.

   

As per a senior official, the Ministry’s instruction for a separate merit list for girls is the introduction of reservation for girls without calling it that’. The case was presented before the Joint Admission Board (JAB), the highest decision making body of IITs on January 7. 

Many officials said that the girls-only merit list to admit 14% girls in IITs may mean less deserving students would get admission in the place of boys who are more deserving. An IIT teacher said, ‘This will also put more pressure on IITs, who will now have to arrange for more bridge-course or remedial classes for students getting through to IITs just because we want a pre-determined percentage of girls on the campuses.

To meet the percentage for girls, all the IITs (including Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad) will have to increase the number of seats. The current number of seats, 10,988 will be now up by 11,509. The officials made it clear that all the existing reservations would be proportionate for the extra seats. However, the specific number of extra students that each IIT will have to accommodate will be proportionate to the number of boys gained admissions.

  

IIT Kharagpur, say, will increase the number of seats by 80, which will take the number of total admission to 1,421. Of this, number of girls to get admission will be 199 reflecting the share 14%.

Source:https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/to-ensure-more-female-students-on-campus-government-directs-iits-to-prepare-separate-merit-list-for-girls-337632.html