JEE Advanced spots steady rise in female students qualifying exam

JEE Advanced spots steady rise in female students qualifying exam

Last Updated Aug - 26 - 2022, 10:58 AM | Source : The FELA | Indian Express | Visitors : 55

About 3000 women cracked the IIT entrance test in 2014 and now the number has risen to 6,400 girls and 15.4% of the qualified pool.

JEE Advanced: The number of women cracking JEE-Advanced – the entrance exam for admission to 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) – has steadily risen from 2014 to 2021, according to an analysis of exam statistics by The Indian Express. B.Tech programs in India have traditionally been a male bastion. The latest National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) report released last month by the Department of Education found that 69% of engineering college enrollments are male.

Women make up 31% of the student body in all technical schools that have applied for ranking under NIRF.

READ | NEET UG 2022 answer key to release by August 30, check details here

The IITs are no exception to this trend. Slowly but surely, however, women are making their presence felt on the IIT campuses. An analysis of the JEE-Advanced data points to the shift taking place.

In 2014, approximately 3,000 women qualified JEE-Advanced and were eligible for admission into the IITs. They made up 11% of the pool of qualified candidates that year. In 2021, approximately 6,400 girls passed the exam, accounting for 15.4% of the total number of qualified candidates.

The above trend is in line with the increasing number of women taking JEE-Advanced, one of the toughest competitive exams in the country. Women made up 17.90% of all students taking JEE-Advanced in 2014 and 22.83% in 2021.

Professor V Ramgopal Rao, former director of IIT-Delhi, attributes the increase in women’s participation in JEE-Advanced to the social programs undertaken by the IITs in partnership with the government. For example, the IITs introduced redundant seats for women four years ago. “The hope is that women who pass IITs will act as role models for other girls. More women are taking JEE exams and starting to do well, which is a good sign,” he said.

READ | NEET SS Admit Card 2022 to get released today on nbe.edu.in

Rao added that he expects more and more women to use JEE in the future. “Since the ratio of boys to girls in grades 11 and 12 is almost equal, that ratio should also apply to JEE-Advanced.”

A former IIT-JEE chairman, who declined to be identified, said their records show that a number of deserving girls qualify for JEE-Advanced but do not join IITs for various social reasons.

“…If the number of girls in IITs is increased to 20 percent, they will automatically start to become role models for other students to clear up the doubts about the ideas such as Mechanical engineering is not for girls, or choose engineering institutions closer to home and not take the IIT experience,” he said.

READ | RPSC Hospital Care Taker Recruitment 2022: 55 posts vacant, get direct link here

The former chairman also said that several female students from IIT’s parents of girls have spoken about the benefits and multidisciplinary education at the main institutions, and how the landscape of technical education has changed in favor of women during various orientation programs that are routinely organized.

Share :