The gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher Education rose to 32% inKarnatakain 2019-2020, against 28.8% in the year before that, but the state continues to lag behind its neighbours, especiallyTamil Naduand Kerala which are far ahead.
GER is a statistical measure used to determine the Percentage of students enrolled in different levels of education from the total Population of the corresponding age group.
The All India Survey of Higher Education released on Thursday showed the GER among girls in the state was 32.7, against 31.2 in boys.
While Karnatakas GER is higher than the national figure of 27.1% in the 18-23 age group, it ranks 15th among other states and UTs. The highest GER is in , at 76%. Karnatakas neighbours are ahead: TN (51%), Kerala (39%),Telangana(36%), AP (35%) andMaharashtra(32.3%).
Karnataka has been the laggard despite having the third highest number of colleges in the country (4,047), after Uttar Pradesh (7,788) and Maharashtra (4,494). It also has the highest college density: 59 colleges per lakh eligible population in teh 18-23 age group. Interestingly, the state established the highest number of new colleges in 2019 181 and 18 of them were in the government sector, but the enrolment is below that of many other states.