Women to get 20% extra seats in NITs by 2020

New Delhi: In a move aimed at giving a push to beti bachao, beti padhao drive, the government has decided to increase 5 per cent seats for women in National Institute of Technology (NIT) from next academic year.

However, Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry officials have claimed that move is a step to balance the gender gap in technical institutions as the number of women students studying in technical institutions is lesser than their male counterparts.

With this decision, the percentage of seats reserved for women aspirants in NITs would be increased to 14 per cent in the next academic year from the present quota of 9 per cent seats. "The decision would help in breaking glass ceiling as girls were hesitant in opting technical courses due to unavailability of adequate seats for them in NITs," the official said.

As per the government official, a target has been set to increase the seats for girls by 3 per cent for the next few years in all NITs, which means by 2019, 17 per cent seats would be reserved for girls and by 2020, the reserved seats for girls would be 20 per cent. There are 19,000 seats in all 31 NITs in the country and with the implementation of 20 per cent quota for girls, 3,800 seats would be reserved for girls.

The decision in this regards was taken during a recently held meeting of NIT Council, which was chaired by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. According to officials, the increase in the number of seats for women candidates, would not affect the existing seats for their male counterparts. Last year, 3,900 female students had taken admission which has come down to 2,500 this year.

The NITs are autonomous public institutes of higher education and governed by the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007, which declared them as institutions of national importance alongside Indian Institutes of Technology.