IIT-Delhi has witnessed a significant rise in the number of girls at the undergraduate level. The intake this year has increased by 65 per cent.
“For the last two to three years the number of female students had remained pretty much constant. In 2007, 50 out of the 550 students — 9 per
cent — were girls. This year, however, female students have taken up 83 out of the 626 seats, which is 13 per cent. This is a significant increase,” said S.R. Kale, dean, undergraduate studies.
Electrical, chemical and bio-chemical engineering are the popular options among them.
The increase comes across as a pleasant surprise as engineering normally doesn’t figure high on girl students’ list of career options. While girls do better than boys in science subjects in the board examination, not too many make it to engineering.
M. Balakrishnan, dean, postgraduate and research, feels it is the entrance examination that acts as a deterrent.
However, the few who do enroll in the undergraduate courses do better than their male counterparts and are “more focused” in class. In 2007 girls bagged three of the 14 silver medals for undergraduate students.
Though the change is positive, professors at the institute find it difficult to attribute it a particular reason.
“This doesn’t have much to do with the increase in seats as the increase in female students’ enrollment is proportionately a lot larger. Since this is the first year it is difficult to attribute the jump to one reason. It would only amount to speculation,” added Kale.