SC enrollment 5.2%, ST’s negligible 1%: Panel flags forward caste dominance in top private universities

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary report has disclosed the abysmal representation of historically-marginalised groups, especially dalits and tribals, among students and faculty at the top private universities in the country. The revelation has prompted a demand to implement constitutional reservations at these institutions.

The report uses the provisional unpublished data from the upcoming All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2022-23 to assess the proportion of scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and other backward class (OBC) students and faculty members at 28 private deemed and state universities figuring in the top 100 universities ranked in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The document, prepared by the Congress MP Digvijaya Singh led parliamentary standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports, was published on Wednesday.

The report shows that, at majority of the private universities, the percentage of dalit or SC students is in the low or mid single digits, with their average stake calculated to be 5.2% - a far cry from their 16.6% share in the national population estimated in the 2011 census. The tribal students have an almost negligible presence, with ST enrollment not even crossing the 1% mark at most institutions. By comparison, the national tribal population is around 8.6%.

The faculty at private universities is even less diverse. On average, the teachers belonging to SC and ST communities hardly make up 4.2% and 0.5% of the overall faculty strength. Some of the institutes don’t have a single Dalit or tribal teaching staff on board.

The situation of OBCs at these higher education institutes (HEIs) is relatively better, but still short of matching their national presence. The OBC fraction of the student body at private universities ranges anywhere between a mere 1% to 70%, with the mean computed to be around 23.6%.

At an average 29.4%, the share of OBCs among teachers is a few notches higher. There’s no consolidated estimate of the OBC population in India, with various studies putting the number anywhere from 35% to 52%.

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Where the private universities do have a relatively higher presence of marginalised groups is among the non-teaching staff. As per the AISHE’s definition of non-teaching staff, this category of employees includes everyone from top administrators (such as a registrar) to clerical and sanitation staff. The SC, ST and OBC groups constitute around 18.1%, 2.2% and 28.9% of overall employees in this category. In fact, some of the institutions have a disproportionately high percentage - 95% in one instance - of those belonging to the marginalised sections.

The caste-wise enrollment figures at private universities fly in the face of the national picture, where out of 4.33 crore students enrolled in higher education institutes, 15.3%, 6.3% and 37.8% belong to SC, ST and OBC categories, respectively, according to AISHE 2021-22 report.

The panel also noted ‘extremely high’ enrolment growth among marginalised sections in recent years, considering it an indicator of enhanced social inclusivity of higher education.

Calls for SC, ST, OBC reservation

The parliamentary committee, which also undertook a study visit in Bengaluru besides perusing AISHE data, expressed concern about the lopsided caste ratio at private universities, calling for a new law to extend reservations at these institutions.

“The Committee believes that the provision of equitable opportunities to all sections of society is a fundamental duty of all HEIs, private or public, and is in keeping with the constitutional value of fraternity and justice. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the [Higher Education] Department should take initiatives to draft a new legislation to implement Article 15(5) of the Indian Constitution and make provisions for reservations for underrepresented groups in private institutions as

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Where SC, ST, OBC presence is lowest

Among the institutes that performed the worst on the inclusivity parameter is the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, a state private university in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), ranked at 46 among universities by the NIRF. Of 14,092 students on its campus, a mere 14 are shown to be Dalits while only five are categorised as tribals. There are only eight and one SC and ST faculty members among 851 teachers.

At Amity University Noida (NIRF rank 32) which has an enrollment of more than 49,000, SC, ST and OBC students only account for 11% of the total student population. Barely 7% of 1,680 teachers belong to these categories, most of them being OBCs.

Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab’s Phagwara doesn’t have a single tribal student on campus, even as it has 8.2% SC and 9.9% OBC students. It has an NIRF university ranking of 27.

BITS Pilani is shown to have admitted zero students in all three categories, but this could very well be a result of the institute not maintaining the caste records of its student population. The deemed-to-be university, however, employs three Dalit and 50 OBC teachers out of 637 teaching staff, but not a single tribal faculty.

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Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology at Patiala (Punjab), Shiv Nadar University at Greater Noida, Shoolini University at Solan (Himachal Pradesh) and Manipal Academy of Higher Education at Manipal (Karnataka) are some of the other institutes dominated by forward caste faculty members. These private universities have recruited only a handful, nil in some cases, SC and ST faculty members.

There are some outliers, too. For example, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology at Bhubaneswar (Odisha) registered a 17% and 9% SC and ST enrollment, but not a single OBC admission. The Dalit and tribal representation among faculty barely crosses 0.1% each. The share of SC students and teachers at Bharath University at Chennai is a tad better at 12.4% and 7.8% respectively. Around 13% of teaching staff at Datta Meghe Institute at Wardha (Maharashtra) belong to SC groups.

Even as it relied on AISHE data, the committee has questioned its reliability, pointing out that Anna University in Tamil Nadu is shown to have only one teacher as an example. It has urged the higher education department to move towards collecting student-level data on the lines of UDISE+ records maintained by the school education department to enhance transparency and avoid duplication.