According to a latest all-India survey on higher education, the proportion of students from marginalised communities —scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and other backward castes — has climbed higher than the national average over the past five years.

Between 2017-18 and 2021-22, the overall growth in number of students enrolled in higher educational institutes is 18.1% whereas for SC category it is 25.43%, the ministry of education report shows. The highest increase, however, was seen in the number of ST students, a growth of 41.6% in the last five years whereas the OBC student enrolment rose by 27.3% in the same period.

Since 2014-15, there has been nearly 80.1% increase in female ST students enrolment with an addition of 7.5 lakh.

The data shows that five years ago, when the overall enrolment was 3.66 crore, the enrolment of students from SC community stood at 52.8 lakh. Over the years, the number of students in this category has increased to 66.22 lakh in 2021-22. Similarly, in 2017-18, 19.13 lakh ST students were part of the higher education system and it was 27.1 lakh in 2021-22. In the OBC category, five years ago, only 12.83 lakh students were enrolled and the number rose to 16.33 lakh in 2021-22.

The women enrolment, across SC, ST and OBC categories, also showed a staggering improvement. The number of female SC enrolled students jumped to 31.71 lakh in 2021–22 from 25.1 lakh in 2017–18, a 26.6% growth in five years. The number of female ST students rose to 13.46 lakh in 2021–22 from 9.1 lakh in 2017–18, recording a 47.6% rise. Similarly, in the OBC category, the number of female students increased by 27.2% to 78.19 lakh (2021–2022) from 61.44 lakh (2017–18).

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In India, the estimated Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education for the 18–23 age group is 28.4. Meanwhile, the students belonging to SC and ST have GERs of 25.9 and 21.2, respectively. (A population’s participation in higher education can be determined in large part by looking at its GER. Higher GER values signify higher enrollment within the specified age group.)

The same trend, however, did not reflect in the data of the Muslim community. The enrollment of Muslim students in 2021–2022 was 21.1 lakh. Over a five-year period, minority enrollment rose by only 14.7%, from 18.4 lakh in 2017–18 to 19.22 lakh in 2020–21. The female Muslim students’ enrolment in 2021-22 was 10.4 lakh. This was 8.98 lakh in 2017-18.

The education ministry has been conducting this survey since 2011, covering all higher educational institutions located in the country and imparting higher education. The survey collects detailed information on different parameters such as student enrolment, teachers’ data, infrastructural information, financial information, etc.