More women taking up higher education

The All India Survey of Higher Education 2021-22, recently released by the government, has welcome news about the growth and development of the sector in the last few years. It shows a considerable increase in the number of higher education institutions and student enrolment and improvement in the composition of the student population. The country has added 7,000 institutions since 2014-15 and student enrolment has grown by over 25% from 3.42 crore to 4.33 crore. One other encouraging fact is that women’s enrolment has increased by 32% from 2014-15, outpacing the growth of men students. There is good growth in the number of women students in all sections, and there are over 98,000 women among 2.12 lakh PhD students. Of the 91 lakh more students who went in for higher education after 2014-15,  55% were women. At the post-graduate level, there are more women than men now. It is also worth noting that among 1.07 crore students who have graduated from all levels of higher education, 54.6 lakh, or 50.8%, are women.

The data from the survey is useful for framing and implementing policies for higher education. India is the most populous country in the world. and it is agreed that population should be used as a major tool of development. Improving the educational levels of the youthful population is essential so that they can be absorbed productively in various sectors of the economy. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which shows the number of students in a given population, is 28.4%. It can be vastly improved. It is 36.2% in Karnataka, slightly higher than the previous year,  but much lower than Tamil Nadu’s 47%. 

The survey highlights some issues of concern which need to be addressed. Private institutions were fewer than government institutions seven years ago, but they have increased by 81% against a 53% increase in government institutions. Fees and educational expenses in private institutions are higher than in government institutions, and so students from less privileged backgrounds will find them inaccessible. Governments should not retreat from the sector; rather, they should increase their presence in it. Another matter of concern is that teacher recruitment has increased by only 8.4% in government institutions. That means a fall in the teacher-student ratio and this certainly affects academic standards. More teachers should be recruited and there should be improvement in infrastructure so that academic standards improve. The survey also shows that science, technology, engineering and other professional courses need greater promotion in line with the needs of our developing economy.