More OBCs than SCs or STs among IIT, IIM dropouts

A large number of students are dropping out of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). According to official figures, OBCs form the biggest chunk of the dropouts. Contrary to the popular perception, more OBC students drop out than SCs and STs.

Answering a question of YSR Congress MP V. Vijayasai Reddy, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank told the Rajya Sabha on 25 July 2019 that over the past two years, 2,461 students quit the IITs midway through their courses. Of them, 1,290 were from the general category while 1,171 were from the reserved categories. Among the reserved categories dropouts, 601 were OBCs while 371 and 199 were SCs and STs, respectively. Thus, 52.4 per cent of the dropouts were from the general category, 24.42 per cent were OBCs, 15.07 per cent were SCs, and 8.08 per cent were STs.

No of IIT dropouts:

Sr	IIT	Total	SC	ST	OBC	% of OBCs
1	Bombay	263	37	12	66	25.09
2	Delhi	782	111	84	161	20.58
3	Kanpur	1 90	18	5	61	32.10
4	Madras	128	14	6	38	29.68
5	Kharagpur	622	120	63	140	22.5
6	Guwahati	12	3	5	2	16.6
7	Roorkee	57	14	5	38	66.6
8	BHU (Benaras)	7	0	0	0	0
9	Hyderabad	85	8	4	25	29.4
10	Patna	92	8	2	25	27.17
11	Jodhpur	21	3	0	7	33.33
12	Bhubaneswar	39	8	2	9	23.07
13	Gandhinagar	4	2	1	1	25
14	Indore	50	6	3	8	16
15	Ropar	34	8	4	8	23.5
16	Mandi	34	3	0	6	17.6
17	Tirupati	18	6	3	3	16.6
18	Palakkad	2	1	0	0	0
19	Bhilai	5	0	0	0	0
20	Jammu	6	0	0	0	0
21	Goa	0	0	0	0	0
22	Dharwad	1	0	0	1	100
23	IESM, Dhanbad	9	1	0	2	22.2
	Total	2461	371	199	601	24.42

The highest number of students (782) dropped out of IIT Delhi, followed by IIT Kharagpur (622) and IIT Bombay (263). The government said that most of the students who quit midway were enrolled in postgraduate and doctorate courses.

Besides the IITs, the IIMs also have had a large number of dropouts. A total of 99 students quit the IIMs this academic session without completing their course. Here too, the OBC students top the list. Of the dropouts, 37 were from the general category and 62 from the reserved category, including 27 OBCs, 14 SCs and 21 STs. In terms of percentage, 37.37 per cent of the dropouts were from the general category, while 27.27 per cent were OBCs, 14.14 per cent were SCs and 21.21 per cent STs.

No of IIM dropouts

Sr	IIM	Total	SC	ST	OBC
1	Ahmedabad	3	1	0	1
2	Bangalore	2	0	1	1
3	Kozhikode	12	2	2	3
4	Lucknow	9	0	6	1
5	Indore	17	2	4	3
6	Calcutta	5	1	2	1
7	Shillong	0	0	0	0
8	Rohtak	0	0	0	0
9	Raipur	5	1	0	0
10	Ranchi `	0	0	0	0
11	Udaipur	0	0	0	0
12	Tiruchirappalli	12	3	1	3
13	Kashipur	13	0	2	11
14	Amritsar	2	1	0	0
15	Nagpur	3	0	1	0
16	Sirmaur	0	0	0	0
17	Sambalpur	0	0	0	0
18	Vishakhapatnam	4	1	1	0
19	Bodhgaya	4	0	1	0
20	Jammu	8	2	0	3
Total		99	14	21	27

It is well known that the students of the reserved categories get admission in these premier institutions against all the odds. Then, what compels them to leave their studies mid-way?

The government has no answer to this question. In this reply, Union HRD Minister Pokhriyal cited many reasons for the students dropping out, including transfer to other colleges/institutions, medical conditions, placement while pursuing postgraduate courses, admission to courses in foreign universities and personal reasons.

 The fact is that the students studying in these premier institutions fear failure. The OBC students enrolled in IITs and IIMs suffer more from an inferiority complex than general-category students. There have also been complaints of misbehaviour. While general-category students quit studies as they get good placements or due to family reasons, such as taking over family businesses, in the case of reserved-category students, the reasons are more to do with lack of opportunities and mental torture.

Ali Hasnain, an IIT alumnus, says that while media reports talk about IIT graduates getting annual packages of Rs 1 crore or Rs 2 crore, the fact is that the average student struggles to get even jobs that pay them around Rs 8-10 lakh per annum. A recent report said that around 15 to 20 per cent of the IIT students do not get jobs in campus placements. Most of them are from the reserved categories.

Translation: Amrish Herdenia; copy-editing: Anil

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The Case for Bahujan Literature

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Mahishasur: Mithak wa Paramparayen

The Common Man Speaks Out

Jati ke Prashn Par Kabir