Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K.C. Venugopal questioned the Union government on its alleged indifference to the high dropout rate of students from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes in Central higher education institutions.
During Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Venugopal said that as per a recent answer given by the Union government in Parliament, 13,626 students from the SC, ST and OBC communities had dropped out of Central universities in the past five years. In its reply, the Education Ministry stated that the dropout rate was high because the students had many other options.
Mr. Venugopal said, “Is the government saying that only SC, ST and OBC students have these options?”
The suicide rate in these institutions is also very high. From 2014 to 2021, as per another answer to Parliament, Mr. Venugopal said 122 students committed suicide out of which 24 were from the Scheduled Castes and 41 from the Other Backward Classes.
Mr. Venugopal urged the government to take immediate steps to stem this dropout rate and to address the concerns of these students.
