BENGALURU : Till the 90s, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru did not see many women students and faculty in the math and science departments. It was only after the mid-90s that IISc saw the entry of women. Among them was Chanchal Uberoi, a PhD student at the department of mathematics, who later went on to teach at the institute. She then became the first female dean at the institute in 1999.
Her husband SN Balasubrahmanyam, recalls, "There were very few (or none at all) women scientists, let alone faculty members, at IISc up to about the 1950s. No serious questions regarding this arose even in later times. There might have been minor irritants, however. Both aspects reflect the social conditions that may have influenced the composition of the faculty at IISc. But then, even the present composition does not reflect the makeup of the gender-wise composition of the population."
According to professor Uberoi, the composition of male to female students at the institute is reflective of societal expectations from sons and daughters. She says that the institute earlier saw a majority of students from 'good educational backgrounds', who would want their sons to become engineers and scientists. Most of them were from the "higher castes." She says, "There were very few female students. Even by about the middle of the 20th century, the number of girl students did not exceed over 10 per cent of the overall population." She also states that the composition was not a result of any "active discrimination" at the IISc.
Unconventional teaching methods
Professor Uberoi followed a method that expanded her knowledge, even while she mentored students. She is known to have introduced unconventional methods of teaching, which included narrating anecdotal incidents to draw the attention and interest of students to a subject.According to the retired professor, "Communication between the mentor and the student at the doctorate candidacy-level is more on par than at the graduate level, or even the post-graduate-level. The students would be expected to go to the library and refer to latest journals and read scientific papers relevant to the topic of his/her research. He/she may point out to the mentor that such a paper is of great relevance/importance. In this way, the mentor and the student are ‘fellow travellers’. The success of the candidacy depends on such exchanges."