New Delhi: The Union Government has an ambitious plan to increase the share of female students in Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). The HRD Ministry has set a target to increase number of female seats from 8% to 20% by 2020 to restore the gender balance in #IITs.
The success of 1st year of implementation of decision showed a rise in the female enrollment in #IITs . The percentage of girl students increased from 9.15% in 2017 to 15.3% this year. 1,000 more girls got admission in IITs in 2018 till 1st round of The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) 2018.
In 2016, the share of female students was 8%.
Mr Prakash Javadekar, HRD Minister, informed in a Twiter message that the hike in share of girl students in BTech programmes aims at encouraging girl students to choose engineering as a career choice and restoring gender balance in IITs.
There are 23 Indian Institutes of Technology in India. In 2018, a total of 11,279 seats are being offered in the IITs, an increase of 291 seats from 2017.
In addition to these seats, this year (i.e., in 2018), 800 supernumerary seats have been created specifically for female candidates in the IITs in order to improve the gender balance in IITs and as per directives of the MHRD, Government of India. As per provisions, total supernumerary seats created cannot exceed 10% of the total seats being offered in the IITs.
