13,000 SC, ST, and OBC Dropouts in Central Universities in 5 Years

In a written reply, Minister of State for Education Subhash Sarkar informed the Parliament about the current state of SC, ST, and OBC students in Indian universities. 

As per Sarkar, around 13,626 SC, ST, and OBC students dropped out from their respective IITs (Indian Institute of Technology), IIMs (Indian Institute of Management), and Central universities in the last five years. 

Sarkar was responding to a question concerning the high dropout rates among SC, ST, and OBC students in the higher education sector. 

"In the Higher Education sector, students have multiple options, and they choose to migrate across institutions and from one course/programme to another in the same institution. The migration/withdrawal, if any, is mainly on account of securing seats by the students in other departments or institutions of their choice or on any personal ground," the reply said. 

As per the data presented in the Parliament, in the last five years, 2,622 ST and 2,424 SC students dropped out of the Central universities. The number of OBC dropouts in the same period was 4,596. 

In IITs, 2066 OBC students dropped out. The corresponding figures for SC and ST students were 1068 and 408, respectively. Similarly, 188 SC and 91 ST students dropped out of IIMs. 

The same reply also highlighted the corrective measures taken by the Central government to address the situation. 

"In order to proactively address any issues of SC/ST students, institutes have set up mechanisms such as SC/ST students' cells, Equal Opportunity Cell, Student Grievance Cell, Student Grievance Committee, Students Social Club, Liaison officers, Liaison Committee, etc. Further, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued instructions from time to time for promoting equity and fraternity amongst students," the minister said.