Telangana sees more women in higher education

The Gross Enrollment Ratio of women in Telangana soared from 34.1 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.6 per cent in 2021-22.

Hyderabad: Novel initiatives launched by former BRS government to empower women are bearing fruits with Telangana State recording a remarkable growth in Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of women by 7.5 per cent in higher education.

The GER of women in Telangana soared from 34.1 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.6 per cent in 2021-22. Similarly, the GER of men went up by 3.8 per cent from 34.7 per cent to 38.5 per cent during the same time frame, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-22, released by the union Ministry of Education on Thursday.

---

Telangana featured among top 10 States where women enrollment is significantly more than men. Overall, the State recorded an impressive GER of 40 per cent in the 2021-22, while the national average stood at 28.4 per cent. During the 2020-21, the State’s GER, which is referred to as the ratio of people enrolled in higher education to the population in the age group of 18-23, stood at 39.1 per cent.

The surge in GER of women can be attributed to a multifaceted approach taken by the previous BRS government including setting up residential degree colleges and Kalyana Lakshmi scheme besides increase in awareness among families to send girls for higher education.

In its term, the BRS government established 62 residential degree colleges for women with 30 under social welfare, 15 under tribal welfare and 17 under BC welfare residential educational institutions societies. Apart from regular degree courses, these degree colleges are offering professional programmes including agriculture and law. Given increase in women enrollment, the universities too have established a large number for hostels, aiding women to pursue their higher education.

Overall, 15,96,680 students including 8,03,327 women and 7,93,353 enrolled in various courses at an average of 611 enrollment per college in 2021-22. A total of 2,573 colleges registered from the State and 2,362 participated in the AISHE conducted by the Ministry.