Though enrolments jumped from 11.96 lakh to 12.59 lakh, Growth rate fell from 7.18% (2019-20) to 5.26% (2020-21).
Experts have called the rise an achievement since lockdown led to student dropout in huge numbers across the state. The credit for growth goes to the for repeatedly extending the admission deadlines followed by continuing the Scholarship programme and opening new colleges when the nation was in the midst of uncertainty, said Puneet Sharma, a higher Education expert.
The growth rate would have crossed the previous year mark had the girls enrolment matched that of the boys. The girls enrolment registered a growth of 2.61% as against 8.21% of the boys. In absolute numbers, girls are still leading in the enrolments with 6,46,378 in 2020-21 while boys are at 6,13,103. Experts believe that those girls who have been left out in the pandemic years should be given special provisions to admit them in colleges. The exception to the trend is found in communities registered underScheduled Tribeswhere girls registered a higher growth rate than the boys.
The data shows that communities under theScheduledCaste have recorded the highest growth of 14.36% while the lowest growth of 4.86% as compared to the 2019-20 figures was recorded by general category. When underprivileged communities outperform the privileged communities it means that programs related to special assistance are working in the right direction, said KB Kothari, former policy planner, Unicef (New York). He believes that the state should run a special assistance program by motivating those who were not able to take admission in 2019-20.