IIT-Kharagpur Ready To Welcome More Girl Students This Year

IIT Kharagpur is planning to have more girls on the campus this year. The decision came after the HRD Ministry instructed the IITs to add minimum 14% of girls quota earlier this year.

Also read: IIT Goa To Have More Female Students From July Session

The country’s oldest IIT will go a very organized way to achieve the desired male:female ratio. They plan to set up a social networking page, where female aspirants can ask about their queries and chat with the faculty. And their doubts will be cleared.

A team of female students and female staff will be appointed to reach out to all girls who clear this year’s IIT-JEE (Advanced). They will personally interact with them and make them aware of the various opportunities at IIT

The team will also be interacting with the parents and give them all necessary information about various campuses. They will be counselled and encouraged to send their daughters to study at IITs.

Pallab Banerjee, chairman of JEE in IIT-Kharagpur, feels that the female candidates lack role models in the IITs. A one-on-one personal interaction of the female students studying in IIT with the aspirants will definitely motivate them.

In addition, the staff is also planning to set up a hotline though which female aspirants can clear their doubts.

Why fewer girls at IITs

A report by Hindustan Times suggests that out of the 15 lakh engineers that graduate from over 3,000 educational institutions in the country, about 30% are women. This means that more women might graduate as engineers, but not from the IITs.

So why’s are fewer girls pursuing engineering at the IITs? Many parents are reluctant to invest both time and money in their daughter’s higher education. The difficulty level and the competition to get through the IIT entrance exam compel aspirants to join coaching classes. Besides being expensive, other factors such as distance of the coaching centre from a girl’s home are also key factors that prevent them from joining IIT.

Parents are usually unwilling to invest much in their daughter’s higher education. In many cases, girls who crack IIT end up at a local college because of the financial aspect

In 2016, the government approved the creation of six new IITs in a bid to create more opportunities for girl candidates. Some campuses will also provide scholarships and stipends.

Also read: Centre Gets IIT-D to Install Switches in Vehicles for Women’s Safety

Malvika Bansal is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv