BHUBANESWAR: There has been a marginal rise in gender parity index (GPI) of higher education in the state.
The index, which is the ratio of female gross enrolment ratio (GER) to male GER, in the 18 to 23 age group stood at 0.94 per cent for academic year 2020-21. It was 0.90 per cent in 2019-20. This was revealed in the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) for 2021-22 released by the Ministry of Education last week. Odisha’s GPI, however, continues to remain way below the national average of 1.05 per cent and almost 29 states have a better index. As far as GPI of the last five academic sessions is considered, there has been a rise of only 0.10 per cent since 2016-17 session while it was 0.84 per cent, the opening of several new colleges and universities notwithstanding. The GPI of 0.90 per cent, implies enrolment of 20.1 per cent of female students against the male enrolment of 21.3 per cent.
Interestingly, while there are more girls pursuing post-graduate (PG) and under-graduate degrees, their number drastically reduces when it comes to higher degrees (PhD) and research. The report points out while 50,344 female students pursued PG in 2020-21 against 48,874 male students, at PhD level their number was only 1,326. Enrolment of tribal girls in higher education institutes is better than tribal boys. As per the report, the gender parity index is 0.90 per cent for ST students and 0.86 per cent for SC.
The higher enrolment of female students in higher education is reflected in the number of female teachers in the state. Odisha has 16,186 female faculty members in all higher education institutes against 25,787 males across all positions. The overall gross enrolment ratio in higher education institutions of the state for academic session 2021-2022 has also marginally increased to 20.7 per cent as compared to 20.5 per cent during 2019-20 session. As per the report, GER in higher education was 21.1 per cent in both 2018-19 and 2017-18 and 20.2 per cent in 2016-17 academic year. Similarly, the ratio among Scheduled Caste students in higher education rose from 18.8 per cent (2019-20) to 20 per cent. So did the GER among Scheduled Tribe students, which was 13.5 per cent in the year 2021-2022 and 12.8 per cent in 2019-20.
Odisha’s GER was around 6 per cent less than the national average of 27.3 per cent in 2021-22. The state saw opening of 47 colleges in 2020 which includes three government-run ones and the enrolment in these institutions has been 2,812.
Way to go
Female to male GER in 18-23 age group stands at 0.94 pc for 2020-21
Odisha’s GPI remains way below national average
More girls pursuing PG and UG courses