From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: It might seem a paradox but it is true. In the matrilineal state of Meghalaya the IIM in Shillong, the only one in entire North East, has one of the worst gender imbalances as far as girl students are concerned.
The IIM which was set up with a vision of expansion and mobilisation of facilities for offering good quality management education and research in the North Eastern region has one of the least girl students- only 26 out of total 119 (rest are all boys). Numerically, it is the second lowest next only to the IIM in Udaipur which has only 15 girl students but it has also 94 male students.
This was disclosed by the Union Minister for Human Resources Development, Dr Sashi Tharoor in reply to a question of Wansuk Syiem, the Meghalaya’s lone representative in Rajya Sabha. Though no proper study has been done on girl students in the region their number in higher studies is fairly high, the Minister said.
Incidentally, this is the case of most of the newer Indian Institutes of Management compared to their cold counterparts. The percentage of women at four IIMs in Tiruchirapalli, Ranchi, Shillong and Udaipur, has dropped – in some cases sharply with three of the seven new IIMs – Rohtak, Raipur and Kashipur – have managed to surpass last year’s numbers.
Further more at IIM Shillong, which is in its sixth year, the percentage of women has fallen to 22% this year from nearly 30% of the batch last time, one report said. But in the Minister’s reply the Government has not spelt out anything to address to this deficiency in IIMs .