HRD Ministry’s survey finds dip in the case of other minority communities

While the enrolment of Muslims in institutes of higher education in Telangana rose by 22% over a period of five years, enrolment of other minorities such as Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis dropped by around 17%.

These were the observations of the All India Survey on Higher Education released by the Ministry of Human Resources Development. While the enrolment of students from the Muslim community in 2012-13 stood at 89,524, it rose to 1,09,240 in 2017-18. On the other hand, the number of students enrolled from other minority communities was 11,920 in 2012-13; the number fell to 9,866 in 2017-18.

Analysing the data, former Head of Strategy and New Initiatives, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Prof. Amir Ullah Khan said that greater access to education, as compared to previous years, in the State had led to the increase in enrolments. He said that enrolment in institutes of higher education was linked to a larger number of schools – both government and private — being opened.

New schools

“The spurt in new schools, including residential schools for minorities and private schools, has led to an increase in enrolment. These schools are acting as feeders for institutes of higher education,” Prof. Khan said.

Touching upon the drop in enrolments of students belonging to other minority communities, Prof. Khan said that students reached nearly full enrolment in the last decade or so, sometimes crossing 100%, as they were enrolled in multiple institutions. “Hence the enrolment rate has now slowed down as there is a correction. The Muslim minority has now got access to schools in their neighbourhood and in their medium of instruction. This is the reason for the late catch-up,” he said.

The survey revealed that there have has been lesser enrolment of Muslim women as compared to men. While 3,44,173 men were enrolled from 2012-13 to 2017-18, the number of women enrolled stood at 2,77,202 in the same period. The report said that data was based on ‘voluntary uploading of data by institutions’.