Higher Education
Colleges in South India
Educational News Today
Friday, June 18, 2010
Chennai: For the second consecutive year, the percentage of girls applying for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) to enroll for BE/BTech courses under the government quota continues to be less than 40%, reveals data.
Of the 1,67,406 applications received for the 2010 TNEA only 66,172 are from girls. This constitutes just 39.52% of the applicants.
The figure is marginally better than the data of last year when only 38.97% of the 1,28,237 applicants for single window counselling were girls.
A gender-specific analysis of the statistics pertaining to applications received for TNEA over the past six years reveals that the highest percentage of female applicants in the fray for engineering degree courses was in 2008. “That year as many as 51,546 girls had applied for the single window counselling which constituted 41.15% of the total applications received. Another year when the figure had crossed 40% was in 2007 when 37,855 girls had applied,” an Anna University official said.
These statistics represent just one side of the coin as the figures point merely to the number of girls who have applied for BE/BTech courses, that too under the government quota alone. In reality, last year only 41,444 girls joined undergraduate engineering degree courses in colleges in Tamil Nadu both under the government and management quota put together.
In terms of actual representation of female students in technical education, this figure works out to a mere 34.51% of the total 1,20,074 students who had joined engineering colleges in the state.
“One of the reasons for fewer number of girls joining engineering colleges could be that they are attracted to pure science courses offered in arts and science colleges than the applied science courses which are technical in nature,”said professor P V Navaneethakrishnan, former director of admissions, Anna University.
The awareness on the prospects for students in pure science courses has also been on the rise.
Another reason, according to a professor of a self-financing engineering college in Poonamallee, is that “since most engineering colleges are located in remote places away from the outskirts of the city many parents are reluctant to send their daughters to these institutions. There are just four engineering colleges in Chennai city, the rest are all in far flung places.”
The choice for girls in engineering courses is also lesser compared to their male counterparts.
“Girls usually prefer to join the circuit branches like electronics and communication engineering, computer science engineering and information technology. Very few of them opt for civil or mechanical engineering courses, which lead them to field jobs. This has a bearing on the number of girls joining technical institutions,” an observer pointed out.
Fewer girls apply for BE courses in state
The figure is marginally better than the data of last year when only 38.97% of the 1,28,237 applicants for single window counselling were girls.
A gender-specific analysis of the statistics pertaining to applications received for TNEA over the past six years reveals that the highest percentage of female applicants in the fray for engineering degree courses was in 2008. “That year as many as 51,546 girls had applied for the single window counselling which constituted 41.15% of the total applications received. Another year when the figure had crossed 40% was in 2007 when 37,855 girls had applied,” an Anna University official said.
These statistics represent just one side of the coin as the figures point merely to the number of girls who have applied for BE/BTech courses, that too under the government quota alone. In reality, last year only 41,444 girls joined undergraduate engineering degree courses in colleges in Tamil Nadu both under the government and management quota put together.
In terms of actual representation of female students in technical education, this figure works out to a mere 34.51% of the total 1,20,074 students who had joined engineering colleges in the state.
“One of the reasons for fewer number of girls joining engineering colleges could be that they are attracted to pure science courses offered in arts and science colleges than the applied science courses which are technical in nature,”said professor P V Navaneethakrishnan, former director of admissions, Anna University.
The awareness on the prospects for students in pure science courses has also been on the rise.
Another reason, according to a professor of a self-financing engineering college in Poonamallee, is that “since most engineering colleges are located in remote places away from the outskirts of the city many parents are reluctant to send their daughters to these institutions. There are just four engineering colleges in Chennai city, the rest are all in far flung places.”
The choice for girls in engineering courses is also lesser compared to their male counterparts.
“Girls usually prefer to join the circuit branches like electronics and communication engineering, computer science engineering and information technology. Very few of them opt for civil or mechanical engineering courses, which lead them to field jobs. This has a bearing on the number of girls joining technical institutions,” an observer pointed out.
Courtesy: Times of India
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