Rise In Female Candidates For Joint Entrance Examination 2020

Registration for the January 2020 Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) saw an increase in the number of female candidates. As compared to the last year, 15,247 more female candidates have applied for the engineering exam this year. This is a positive sign which shows that more women are showing interest in pursuing engineering. Moreover, there's also the EWS quota that has been added this year, which saw registrations from 81,413 aspirants, close to the number of test-takers belonging to the Scheduled Caste.

Not only did the registrations for JEE 2020 see an increase in the number of female candidates, but they also saw a decline in the number of male candidates. According to the Times of India, there is a decline in the number of male candidates by 20,000.

Key Takeaways:

• Around 9.34 lakh aspirants have applied for the first of the two JEE Main 2020 Engineering Tests.
• While the number of female candidates has increased by over 15,247, the number of male candidates has decreased by around 20,000.
• The number of students registering for JEE Mains started increasing from 2015, after witnessing a continuous decline for five years.
• Overall, 11.19 Lakh candidates have registered for the JEE Main Exam 2020, which has increased as compared to last year.

Decline In The Number Of Male Candidates

Not only did the registrations for JEE 2020 see an increase in the number of female candidates, but they also saw a decline in the number of male candidates. According to the Times of India, there is a decline in the number of male candidates by 20,000.

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Women Constitute Less Than 30 Percent Of Engineering Students

As per the latest data available, in 2017, women constituted less than 30 percent of students in engineering colleges. Around 11 Lakh candidates applied for the JEE 2017, but out of these, 72 percent were boys. In fact, according to the data available on the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, there has been a difference of around 40 percent in the enrollment percentage of boys and girls in the BTech and BE programs.

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Situation Better In BSc Course Than Engineering

Though not good, the percentage of women in BSc is still better than the percentage of women in engineering courses. In 2017, out of the 40.37 lakh students enrolled in BSc, 47.6 percent were women. In fact, if the data from the 2016- Market Information Survey of households by the National Council of Applied Economic Research is to be relied upon, it states that women all across the country today have moved on from Engineering and are exploring other non-conventional education options. There is a steep rise in the number of girls opting for management courses like MBA, Administration and Hotel Management which saw a steep rise from 7% to 13% during the study period of 2013-16.

Even this year, the number of registrations for architecture has increased marginally. Around 1.38 lakh applicants have applied for the JEE architecture/Planning exam 2020.

Picture Credit: Indiatimes

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