THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Raising concerns about a relatively unaddressed issue in the state’s higher education sector, students from SC and ST communities make up close to one-fourth of the dropouts in graduation courses from the colleges under the Directorate of Collegiate Education.
According to an RTI response availed by TNIE, SC/ST students form over 24.89% of the total dropouts in aided, and 23.75% of the same in government colleges from 2019-20 to 2023-24 academic years in degree courses. In addition to this, 21.47% of dropouts in PG courses in the government colleges, and 15.34% in aided colleges are also from the SC and ST communities.
On a further note, the figures also suggest that OBC students form a significant proportion of dropouts in these institutions, which include arts and science, music, training colleges, etc falling under various universities across all districts of the state.
Among the 4,871 students who discontinued their graduation studies from government colleges from 2019-20 to 2023-24, 816 students are from SC and 341 from ST communities. The trend remains the same in aided colleges, with 4,446 SC and 633 ST students forming a significant portion of the 20,485 students who dropped out.
Out of the 950 students who dropped out of their PG courses in the same period from government colleges, 163 students are from the SC community, and 41 are from the ST community. A relatively better proportion is seen in the postgraduate courses of aided colleges, where out of the 3,421 dropouts, 475 SC and 50 ST students have been mapped.
A top official from the higher education department said that the issue needs to be studied in detail to identify the challenges.
“Though it is unfortunate, the proportion is not completely surprising. Many reasons could be there, including finances, academics, and tensions inside classrooms,” the official said.
Even with multitude of potential reasons surrounding every student from SC/ST communities, Dalit activist K Santhosh Kumar said caste discrimination in various forms becomes the key reason for at least 50% of these dropouts.
“Only a few students from these communities complete their higher education, and if they still have to drop out of their colleges, discrimination should be seen as the prime reason, more than academics. Even when there are keen eyes to monitor disbursal of e-grants and admission of SC, ST students, dropouts become a concern which rarely gets addressed,” he said.
Santhosh also added that the layer of discrimination emphasises the need to address the issue through a special intervention scheme.