The digit of dropout students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in all Central varsities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) during 2018 to 2023 has exceeded 19,000.

Subhas Sarkar, Union Minister of State for Education, shared this statement on Wednesday in reply to a written question in Rajya Sabha.

A member of the Indian Parliament, Tiruchi Siva, representing Tamil Nadu, had questioned the government about the number of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward classes candidates who dropped out from central universities, IITs, IIMs, in the last five years. She also wanted to learn whether the government has led any study about the causes of the high dropout rate of students in these educational institutions.

In reply to Siva, Subhas Sarkar informed that 6901 candidates from other backward classes, 3596 scheduled castes, and 3949 scheduled tribes students dropped out of Central Universities. Around 2544 OBC students, 1362 SC, and 538 scheduled tribes students dropped out of IITs. Further, 143 SC, 133 OBC candidates, and 90 ST students dropped out of IIMs in the previous five years.

Sarkar added that the government took multiple measures like fee reduction, establishing more institutes, scholarships, and priority access to national-level scholarships to help students with poor economic backgrounds to seek their education. For the welfare of scheduled castes/scheduled tribes students, the schemes like the release of tuition fees in IITs, scholarships in institutes, grant of national scholarships under the Central Sector Scheme, etc., are also there.