Over 11K OBC, SC and ST students dropped out from Central Universities in five years: Centre

NEW DELHI: Over 11,000 students from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) dropped out from 45 Central Universities (CUs) in India from 2018 to 2023, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

While over 4,000 students from these three categories dropped out from IITs in the last five years, a total of 366 students belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories dropped out from IIMs in the same period, said Minister of State for Education Dr Subhas Sarkar in a written reply.

Giving data, the minister said that 6,901 OBC students left CUs, 3,596 SC students dropped out and 3949 ST students didn’t pursue their education.

Similarly, in IITs, 2,544 OBC students dropped out, while 1,362 SC and 538 ST students didn’t pursue their courses.

In IIMs, 133 OBC students, 143 SC and 90 ST students dropped out of their courses.

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To a question by Tiruchi Siva, MP from Tamil Nadu, on the number of dropout students from OBCs, SCs and STs in all Central Universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) during the period 2018 to 2023, Dr Sarkar said in the higher education sector students have multiple options.

They migrate from one course/programme to another in the same institution. The migration/withdrawal, if any, is mainly due to securing seats by the students in other departments/institutions of their choice or on any personal ground, the minister said.

The government has taken various steps like fee reduction, the establishment of more institutes, scholarships, and priority access to national-level scholarships to aid students with poor financial backgrounds in pursuing their education.

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For the welfare of SC/ST students, schemes like ‘waiver of tuition fees in IITs’, grant of national scholarships under the Central Sector Scheme, scholarships in institutes etc., are also there.

To another question by Tamil Nadu MP Vaiko on caste discrimination and alienation in SC/ST students in higher educational institutions like IITs, CUs in the last five years, Dr Sarkar said no cases of caste discrimination and alienation in SC/ ST students had been reported from IITs during the previous five years. About CU, no data on caste discrimination is maintained centrally, the minister said.

The minister also said that in the case of IITs, suicide cases of 2 SC students in 2018, 1 SC student in 2019, 1 SC student and 1 ST student in 2022 and 2 SC students in 2023 have been reported.

In the case of CUs, suicide cases of 4 SC students in 2017, 2 SC students in 2018 and 1 SC student in 2021 have been reported, he said.

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