President expresses concern over poor representation of girls in technical institutions

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 17: Expressing concern over the less representation of girl students in technical institutions, the President of India has called the technical and scientific institutions to reverse the trend. He has urged students to take inspiration from top scientists like Dr Tessy Thomas and make a successful career.

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind speaking at the 8th convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna said often it has been seen that girls have better academic performance. But, in the technical institutes, we are witnessing a different trend.

He said, “In today's eight medal winners only one is being won by our daughter. And of the 733 students graduating only 96 are women, which is only about 13 per cent of the total student strength.”

As per a report published last year, female students constitute only 26 per cent of total students in engineering colleges across India. President said, “The situation is almost similar in other technical institutes in the country, an improvement in this situation is very important. It is imperative to increase the involvement of women in technical and scientific institutions.” He added that today, we need technology leaders such as Dr Tessy Thomas, also known as the ‘Missile Woman’.

He urged the NIT graduates to partner agricultural scientists and collaborate with farmers to help enhance productivity and incomes. He said, “the research at NIT Patna should aim at resolving various problems of the people of Bihar and the country.”