Female enrolment in Indian Institutes of Technology has increased from 8% in 2016 to 20% in 2021-2022. To promote female students for pursuing higher education and research, University Grants Commission provides special post-graduate scholarships for girl students across the country. In a written reply, Minister of State for Education Dr. Subhas Sarkar said this in the Rajya Sabha.

The Minister said, the All India Council for Technical Education is also giving ten thousand scholarships to girls entering technical education. He said, there has been consistent improvement in the enrolment of female students in STEM Courses. As per AISHE Report, the number of female students enrolled in STEM Courses has increased from 41 lakh 97 thousand 186 in 2016-17 to 43 lakh 87 thousand 248 in 2020-22

Similarly, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is also giving 10,000 scholarships to girls entering technical education under the PRAGATI program.

“To improve female enrolment in the Undergraduate Programmes in IITs, supernumerary seats were created which increased the female enrolment from 8% in 2016 to 20% in 2021-22. Similarly, the enrolment of girls in NITs has increased to nearly 22.1% in 2021-22,” the statement added.

There has been consistent improvement in the enrolment of female students in STEM Courses. As per AISHE Report, the number of female students enrolled in STEM Courses has increased from 4197186 in 2016-17 to 4387248 in 2020-21.

The information was provided by the Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar in a written reply in the upper house.