Only one girl per 10 boys in current batch at IIM-Rohtak

ROHTAK The efforts made by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak, to improve its skewed gender ratio on campus resulted in some positive news for the institute with a three-fold increase in the number of girl students enrolling in post-graduate management programme this year as compared to the previous one.

However, the institute still has a long way to go in achieving a respectable gender ratio among its students. Also, because the threefold increase that came this year was achieved after the IIM increased its seats by more than 70%.

For its eighth batch (2017-19), the three-day induction programme of which ended on Sunday, only 26 girl students got inducted at IIM Rohtak as compared to 236 boys, making the gender ratio 1:10. The institute had adopted several methods to increase the count of girl students after only nine girls were admitted in 2016 in a batch of 153.

IIM director Prof Dheeraj Sharma said they ran social media campaigns and announced merit-cum-scholarships for girl students for the second year of their management programme.

“The institute also organised its first ‘meet and greet’ session where candidates were given a chance to interact with the faculty and were encouraged to enrol here,” he said.

While these steps got them some advantage, they were far from getting them a 1:1 gender ratio that the institute had achieved back in its 2013-15 batch.

Rohtak Congress MP Deepender Hooda blamed the fall in number of girls at IIM Rohtak to Haryana’s “law and order problem” after a series of rape incidents were reported here last month. Many also blamed the Jat agitation of 2016, as the violent riots occurred at a time when the institute had started its admission process.

However, Prof Sharma said he did not believe these factors as the reason behind the decline in number of girl students. “The attendance of girls in higher education in the country is anyway less compared to boys. Since IIM Rohtak is a new institute, more girls prefer choosing the older ones,” he said.

Showing more diversification, the new batch this year also saw a 33% increase in students coming from non-engineering background.

FOR 201719 BATCH, ONLY 26 GIRL STUDENTS GOT INDUCTED AT IIM ROHTAK AS COMPARED TO 236 BOYS