Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in India 23.6 per cent: Irani

More youngsters in the age group of 18-23 years are acquiring higher education and the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in India has risen to 23.6 per cent, and 46 per cent of those enrolled are girls, a HRD ministry survey has found.
However, a gender disparity prevails in the number of teachers in higher education with merely 64 female teachers per 100 male (rpt) male teachers, the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15 (provisional) has found.
Noticing this disparity, Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani, who unveiled the survey report today directed her ministry to formulate schemes so that the number of women teaching in higher education institutions can be increased.

Irani who, apart from the provisional findings for 2014-15, also released AISHE 2013-14 and launched the survey for 2015-16 also, indicated that she wanted the process of data collection to be made faster.
She said it is a "big challenge" from the point of view of data, that the report for year 2013-14 was being presented today.
A 60 day drive, she said, is being undertaken to ensure that data for 2015-16 can be expeditiously taken up in conjunction with states, institutes of higher learning in an attempt that before the next academic year, the data should be out.

Referring to the provisional data, Irani said it showed GER at 23.6 per cent which indicates that XII plan target of 30 per cent GER will be achieved. The data, she added, also shows that the women are taking to higher education in greater numbers as per the provisional data.

Among the other key findings of the AISHE 2014-15 (Provisional) are that the total enrollment in Higher Education is estimated to be 33.3 million with 17.9 million boys and 15.4 million girls.
The GER for male population is 24.5 per cent and for females is 22.7 percent. However, for Scheduled Castes the Gross Enrollment Ratio is 18.5 per cent while for Scheduled Tribes it is 13.3 per cent, which is lesser than the national average.
As per the survey, the Pupil Teacher Ratio in Universities and Colleges is 24.