In the past five years, more than 13,600 students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) have discontinued their education at Central Universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), as revealed in a response provided by Union Minister of State for Education, Subhas Sarkar, in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The data indicated that in Central Universities, 4596 OBC, 2424 SC, and 2622 ST students dropped out during this period. For IITs, the numbers were 2066 OBCs, 1068 SC, and 408 ST students, while in IIMs, 163 OBC, 188 SC, and 91 ST students left their courses.
Minister Sarkar noted that student migration across institutions and programs within the same institution is common in the higher education sector. He highlighted that such movements are often influenced by factors like securing seats in preferred departments or institutions and personal reasons. Regarding National Law Universities (NLUs), Sarkar clarified that since they are established under state legislatures, the central government does not maintain data on dropout students from NLUs.
In response to addressing the issue, Sarkar outlined government initiatives such as fee reduction, establishment of more institutes, scholarships, and priority access to national-level scholarships. Additionally, he mentioned specific schemes aimed at the welfare of SC and ST students, including tuition fee waivers in IITs and national scholarships under the Central Sector Scheme.
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