A panel has recommended reservation for girl students in Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs to address the issue of a slump in the number of women students entering the prestigious institutes.
The committee is learnt to have suggested creating up to 20 per cent supernumerary seats for girls out of the total number of seats.
“The 20% supernumerary seats will be filled by female candidates who have qualified JEE-Advanced. Also, they should be in the top 20 percentile in their respective board exams,” a source told PTI
The recommendation of the committee will be taken up in the meeting of the joint admission board (JAB) for a final decision, which will decide whether the reservation will come in effect from this year or from 2018.
Concerned by the slump in number of girl students entering IITs, the JAB has set up a sub-committee under the chairmanship of professor Timothy Gonsalves to find ways to rectify the situation in the institutes.
The number of seats for male candidates will not be affected and this will help IITs achieve the 1 lakh target by 2020. Also, only candidates who have already qualified in JEE-Advanced will be considered.
The committee has also made certain other recommendations at school level, which will have a long-term effect.
PTI inputs
