NEW DELHI: More than 19,000 students from OBC, SC and ST categories dropped out from central universities, IITs, and IIMs during 2018-2023, according to the Ministry of Education.

The data was shared by Union Minister of State for Education, Subhas Sarkar, in response to a written question in Rajya Sabha.

According to available records, the number of drop out students from 2018 to 2023 in Central Universities (CUs), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in various courses is 19,256.

While 14,446 students from the three categories dropped out from central universities during the period, 4,444 students dropped out from IITs, and 366 from IIMs, the minister said .

"In the Higher Education sector students have multiple options and they choose to migrate across institutions and from one course or programme to another in the same institution. The migration or withdrawal, if any, is mainly on account of securing seats by the students in other departments or institutions of their choice or on any personal ground," Sarkar said.

"The government has taken various steps like fee reduction, establishment of more institutes, scholarship, priority access to national level scholarships to aid the students with poor financial backgrounds to pursue their education.

"For the welfare of SC and ST students the schemes like ‘waiver of tuition fees in IITs’, grant of national scholarships under Central Sector Scheme, scholarships in institutes etc. are also there," he added.

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