Mangaluru: The Union government’s decision to improve the gender ratio at engineering colleges to at least 20% or one woman out of every five students by 2020 has been widely hailed by academics. The new initiative of Indian Institutes of Technology ( IITs ) will help female aspirants to look for greener pastures in the field of engineering.The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) had learnt that only a small number of women join prestigious institutions like IITs. Last academic year, it was one in every 10 admissions, despite them faring better than men at the plus 2 level. To balance this gap, the MHRD had directed all 23 IITs to make sure at least 14% of their seats went to women in the 2018 academic year. Accordingly, at least 550 extra seats will be created as per new directions. The proportion of girls in IITs has been fluctuating over the past few years, with 8.8% in 2014 to 9.15% in 2017.Udaykumar R Yaragatti, director, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, told TOI that compared to NITs, the ratio of women in IITs is worrisome, and that this new move will bridge the gap. “One of the interesting things about creation of new seats is that it will not encroach upon seats of men in the already existing seat allocations,” he adds. Yaragatti is also the present chairman of the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB).Rajshekhar Ratrey, vice-president of educational content site,Toppr.com, says diversity is the crux of our society. “Encouraging women to take up engineering is not just about equal opportunities in education, but it is also about creating a more balanced society in the future. Out of the total candidates who appeared in the JEE (Advanced) 2018, only 20% are women, and this trend has been observed year after year. Maybe this move will encourage female participation in JEE in the coming years,” he said.Sharing data from their firm, he said 14% of their students who qualified for JEE (Advanced) 2018 are women. “Every 3 out of 10 women, who used our services, qualified for JEE (Advanced), as opposed to the national average of 1.7 out of 10. About seven women students have scored an AIR under 1,000. Our highest female representation is from the states of Telangana followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra,” he said.Overall, across the country, while 31,021 women candidates appeared in JEE (Advanced) 2018, only 2,076 qualified, which is a qualification rate of 7%, which was double in the case of men candidates.Advantage for boysSome of the girls students in IITs expressed that they feel at a disadvantage as their numbers are less. “Being in less numbers in the class, we cannot always ask help from those who are from the opposite sex, as they often don’t want to help us when it comes to assignments,” says a woman student at IIT. “Boys who are in large numbers discuss academic matters in groups and clear their doubts. In departments such as mechanical engineering, the imbalance is worse, as there are even less women,” she adds.Gender ratio at IIT Madras (Chennai)Source: National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)YearCourseMaleFemaleTotal admissions2013-14UG2,8714103,2812014-15UG2,9494253,3742015-16UG3,4575013,9582016-17UG [4 Years]1,7402421,9822016-17UG [5 Years]1,7402491,9892012-13PG2,0523842,4362013-14PG2,3434412,7842014-15PG2,3244512,7752015-16PG1,5473141,8612016-17PG [2 Years]8001209202016-17PG [3 Years]660173833

Stay updated with all the Latest Mangalore headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.