More girls enroll for science, medical courses in Karnataka

The number of girls studying science, especially medical education, is more in Karnataka.

The data, gathered by the Department of Higher Education, shows that of the total 2,29,576 students enrolled for science courses at the undergraduate level, 1,42,832 were girls (62 per cent) and 86,744 were boys in 2020-21.

The department gathered this data as part of the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) conducted by the Union Education Ministry. The details of the report, accessed by DH, show that this is the trend over the past seven years.

The department had consolidated the data since the 2014-15 academic year and in that year, the total admissions for the science stream were 1,39,025. In this, 86,288 students were girls and 52,737 were boys.

This was the trend even in medical courses for the last several years. In 2020-21, close to 2/3rd of the candidates, admitted to medical education courses, were girls and this was the trend for the last seven years. Of the 3,27,127 total students registered for medical courses in 2020-21, 2,06,002 were girls and 1,21,120 were boys.

Interestingly, five transgender candidates enrolled for medical courses in the state in 2020-21.

According to experts, this is mostly because more girls are passing out at the PUC level in the science stream.

Dr S Sachidanand, former vice chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, said, “Students, who score well in science at the PUC level prefer to take up science, especially the medical field. This trend continues even at the postgraduate level in medical education both in pre-clinical and para-clinical.”

Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan told DH that the incentives, including free education for girl students from KG to PG, are one of the main reasons for this.

“This is such a positive move and we want this to reach 100 per cent,” he said.

Less Muslim girl students

The enrollment of Muslim girl students in higher education in the state decreased marginally during the 2020-21 academic year, compared to previous years. As per the data, their enrollment dipped by around 10,000.

During 2019-20, the enrollment of Muslim girl students was 68,637. The total enrollment of Muslim students during 2020-21 was 1,24,437.

As per the analysis, the number of Muslim students taking up higher education is lower compared to male students over the last seven years.