From 2019, more seats for girl students in NITS

ACCORDING TO A SENIOR HRD MINISTRY OFFICIAL, THE EXTRA SEATS WILL ONLY BE CREATED IF THE SEAT PERCENTAGE FALLS BELOW 14% THIS YEAR

NEWDELHI: Expect more girls to get into top engineering colleges across the country from the next academic year on 2018-19.

After IITS, 31 National Institutes of Technology (NITS) and the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (IIEST) will allocate special supernumerary seats for female candidates. The move is likely to provide equitable access to girls in the top-ranked NITS.

According to a senior Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry official, the seats for male students will not be reduced, and the supernumerary seats will be created only if the percentage of girl students falls below 14% in any NIT. This percentage will gradually move to 17% in 2019 and 20% in 2020.

According to sources, only 14% female candidates took admission in the 31 NITS this year as compared to 22% last year. During 2017 admissions, (14) NITS out of the (31) including the well-established ones at Suratkal, Allahabad and Patna saw the percentage of girl student admissions plummeting below 14%.

This year, of 17,061 total students, 2,440 female students took admission.

With the latest move, at least another 300 girl students are expected to get a seat.

In IITS also, next year, 4% more seats will be reserved for women candidates which means a total of 1,540 girls are likely to take admission compared to 1,100 this year. There will be an increase of 440 seats for women candidates from next year.

Earlier in the year, the IIT council approved a hike in the number of seats allotted to women. “Since a study has already been conducted by the IITS and the recommendations have also been accepted by the Council of IITS... it has been decided to adopt the following course of action to improve girls' enrolment in NITS and IIEST, Shibpur,” reads the order.

According to the order, statutory reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCS), Scheduled Tribes (STS), Other Backward Classes (OBCS) and for Physically Handicapped (PH) categories will be applicable in the supernumerary seats in the same manner as for the sanctioned seats.