Just 48 girls join IIT-M this year

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Even as the Union government waived off fees for IIT-JEE application forms to woo more girl students to join IITs this year, the number of girls joining IIT-Madras in the B.Tech programme has touched rock bottom. Only 48 girls joined the prestigious institute compared to 67 last year.

According to statistics provided by IIT-Madras, 462 students had joined the institute last year of whom 67 were girls.

Of the 450 candidates who took admission this year, 48 were girls. In the 2010-11 academic year, 59 girls had joined the institute and while the number had risen to 67 last year, it dropped to 48 this year.

Asked about the trend, a senior faculty at the institute said that though fewer girls’ had preferred IIT-M this year, the total number of girls entering IITs had increased.

“Girl students could have opted for an IIT in their city or town. We need to study student demographics in detail this year as it will provide us with the answer we are looking for,” the faculty said.

“We expected more girls to join our institute but it is not clear why the number decreased this year,” said another faculty.

This year eight students have been offered admission under the preparatory course and they will join either B.Tech or the dual degree course after successful completion of the programme. A total of 1,863 students study B.Tech and 1,699 pursue B.Tech (dual degree) at IIT- Madras.