Raichur MP G. Kumar Naik Calls for Holistic Measures to Boost Higher Education Enrolment

Quick Summary

• Raichur MP G. Kumar Naik urged the government to adopt a multifaceted approach to improve higher education enrolment, highlighting that financial aid alone is insufficient.
• India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education stands at 24.3%, rising by only 5% as 2014-15.
• Private institutions account for 78% of all colleges, but spending on student aid has dropped by ₹1,000 crore in recent years, excluding doctoral fellowships.
• from 2019 to 2023, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 25% of student dropouts, citing systemic failures and inadequate support from schemes like Vidyalakshmi loans.
• Collage density rose marginally from 27 per district in 2014 to only 30 by 2022; stark disparities exist between states such as Karnataka (66 colleges per district) and Bihar (7).
• Rural areas remain underserved with college enrolment stagnating at just a growth rate of about 58%, exacerbated by supply-side constraints like poor infrastructure and limited faculty availability.
• Funding under PM-USHA for infrastructure upgrades has dropped by over half its budgeted allocation; the FIST scheme’s benefits are concentrated mostly in few States.
• Faculty shortages persist-one-third of posts in centrally funded universities are vacant as of March 2023; State universities face up to a staggering shortage of more then or equal to estimated capceities above threshold ie near marginline limits upto sizeable vacacy zones overall standing upto **40%.

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