INDIA

Concern over decline in Muslim higher education enrolment
Indian Government policies vis-à-vis the welfare of minorities, especially Muslims, have come under the scanner as a massive decline is noticed in the enrolment of Muslims in higher education in 2020-21 compared to figures for other communities, which have shown an upward trend, reports Clarion India.The issue recently came to light as an article written by Professors Christophe Jaffrelot and Kalaiyarasan A in The Indian Express drew attention to the anomaly. They cited data from the Education Ministry’s report, All India Survey on Higher Education 2020-2021. Although the report was out in February, the article titled “Muslims in Higher Education: A sobering tale” on Tuesday 9 May focused on the decline.
“The recently released All India Survey on Higher Education 2020-2021 shows some contrasting trends,” reads the article. “Enrolment of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs in higher education has increased by 4.2%, 11.9% and 4% respectively compared to 2019-20. The upper castes, whose share in enrolment had been declining with the implementation of Mandal II since the late 2000s, have come back with the highest growth rate of 13.6%. On the other hand, the enrolment of Muslim students dropped by 8% from 2019-20 – that is, by 179,147 students. This level of absolute decline has never happened in the recent past for any group.”
Full report on the Clarion India site