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Srinagar: The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-21, released by the Ministry of Education Government of India (GoI) has depicted a slight dip in admission of students at Under-Graduate (UG) level across J&K from the 2019-20 to 2020-21 academic session.
The national survey has however portrayed an increasing trend of student enrollment in Postgraduate, M Phil, PhD admissions across Jammu and Kashmir.
Overall, the student enrolment at undergraduate level during the last five years has significantly gone up in J&K with a slight dip of admission in 2020-21 session. The estimated enrollment of students in undergraduate courses was recorded as 301889 - 154680 males and 147209 females during the year 2019-20 which decreased to 2.89 lakhs--141590 males and 147415 females in 2020-21.
The estimated student enrollment at UG level in 2016-17 was 2.49 lakh - 1.19 lakh males and 1.29 lakh females followed by 2.67 lakh - 1.27 lakh males and 1.39 lakh females in 2017-18 and 3.04 lakh – 1.51 lakh males and 1.52 lakh females in 2018-19.
The AISHE 2020-21 has however revealed a downfall in the admission of students at Postgraduate level from 2016 to 2021.
As per the findings of the survey, the estimated enrollment of students at PG level was 70992 - 30501 males and 40482 females in 2016-17 which however went down to 66288 - 29946 males and 36342 females in 2020-21. The figures, however, increased for last year as the admissions recorded in 2019-20 was 63623 – 28673 males and 34950 females.
The enrollment of students at PG level was recorded as 71760 - males 37274 and females 34486 in 2017-18 and 66128- males 29721, females 36407 in 2018-19.
As per the AISHE 2020-21, the J&K Union Territory (UT) has however figured in the list of states and UTs having a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of below 30 percent in all social groups.
The GER in India is calculated for 18-23 years of age group enrolled in the colleges and Universities.
As per the survey, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) during the last year has been recorded as 25 percent- 23 percent males and 27.2 percent females.
The survey has also stated that the estimated student enrolment at various levels during the last five years in J&K has shown a mixed response among students at college, university and PhD levels.
The survey has calculated the enrollment of students for the past five year at PhD level, M Phil level and Postgraduate level in J&K.
The enrollment at PhD level showed a significant increase from 2016-17 to 2020-21. In 2016-17 the enrollment in PhD admission was recorded as 1968 - 991 males and 997 females, which however went up to 4445 - males 2412 and females 2033 in 2020-21 academic year. Similarly, the enrollment of students for M Phil showed an increase from 252 in 2016-17 academic year to 297 in 2020-21 year.
As per the survey, the GER at various levels in higher education for the age group of 18-23 years in J&K is 25 percent with the GER of males at 23 percent and females at 27.2 percent.
However, the GER of Scheduled Caste is 17.3 including males with a GER of 15.4 and females with 19.4 percent.
The GER of Scheduled Tribe is 16.5 percent including that of males with 17.1 and females 15.7 percent.