Higher Education GER improves, but challenges remain﻿
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 22, 2019
The Gross
Enrolment Ratio (GER) of Higher Education has seen a steady increase over the
years. In 2018-19, the female GER in higher education was more than the male
GER for the first time. However, we are still behind many of the developing
& developed nations. Decreasing GER in some of the states is also a cause
for concern.
Education is akey factor influencing the growth story & development of a nation. Indiamoved from a nation with 12% literacy rate in 1947 to 74% literacy rate as per2011 census.
The ASER (Annual
Status of Education Report) -2018 states that the enrolment rate in schools between the age 6-14 years isabove 96% every year since 2010. Right to Education (RTE) act, 2009 makes accessto free and compulsory education a fundamental right for every child between the age of 6-14 years. Whilethere are apprehensions in respect to the quality of school education, theprogress made over the years in terms of the reach cannot be discounted.
However, school education is only one part of the education story. Higher education forms the crucial bridge which helps to build on the early education foundation and enable the young population to be productive citizens who can not only earn livelihood but also contribute towards the nation’s growth story. In this story, we look into the enrolment for Higher education in India as per data in the AISHE for 2018-19 (All India Survey on Higher Education).
Increasing
trend of Higher Education GER continues
Gross Enrolment
Ratio (GER) measures enrolment as percentage of a specific age-group of thepopulation. The Higher Education GER (18-23 age group) in India for the year2018-19 is 26.3. This is an increase over the previous year and is in line withthe increasing trend over the years. In 2014-15, it was 24.3.
While higher education GER in India is on an increasing trend, it stills lags when compared with other countries. The age group for higher (tertiary) education is 18-22 years internationally. When calculated as per the international standard, the higher education GER for India would be 30.6%. While it is higher than Pakistan (9) and Bangladesh (21), it is comparatively less than other countries in Asia – China (51), South Korea (94), Malaysia (45), Indonesia (36), Iran (70) etc. Globally, USA’s higher education GER is 88, UK’s  is 60, Germany is at 70 and Canada’s is 69 etc.
Increase in GER
among marginalized communities
Apart from an overall increase in Higher Education GER at the all-India level, an upward trend is observed among the marginalized communities in India.  The GER among SC community for 2018-19 is 23, while it was only 19.1 in 2014-15. Similarly, among the ST community, the higher education GER increased from 13.7 in 2014-15 to 17.2 in 2018-19.
Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal among states with lowest Higher Education GER
Among thestates, Sikkim has shown the highest change with an increase in GER by 16.5within a year. In 2017-18, it was 37.4 while it increased to 53.9 in 2018-19. Sikkimis also the state with the highest GER in 2018-19.
Among the largestates, Tamil Nadu ranks first with a GER of 49 followed by Delhi (46.3),Himachal Pradesh (39.6), Uttarakhand (39.1), Kerala (37) and Telangana (36.2). Otherlarge states with GER higher than the national average include – AndhraPradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka.
Among the largestates, Bihar has the lowest GER with 13.6, followed by Chhattisgarh and Assamwith 18.6 and 18.7 GER respectively. Jharkhand, West Bengal, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are among the states with GER lessthan all-India average of 26.3 in 2018-19.
Most of the
Indian states have shown a positive trend in respect to GER.
Barring a fewexceptions, most of the states have shown a positive change in respect toHigher Education GER over the last few years. Punjab, UP and Tripura stand out by being the only 3 states with anegative change in GER in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18.
Punjab’s GERfell by 0.8 (29.5 in 2018-19 from 30.3 in 2017-18). UP’s GER fell by 0.1 (25.8 in2018-19 compared to 25.9 in 2017-18), while Tripura had a significant fall by 2(19.2 in 2018-19 from 21.2 in 2018-19).
The UT ofChandigarh recorded the most significant negative change with a fall by 5.8. Highereducation GER here was 56.4 in 2017-18 and fell to 50.6 in 2018-19. This fallin GER resulted in Chandigarh being pushed to the second place among IndianStates and UTs from its earlier first position in 2017-18.
Sikkim, asnoted earlier has the highest positive change with 16.5. Other states with ahigher positive change in Higher education GER include – Jammu & Kashmir (3.2),Uttarakhand (2.8), Mizoram (2.8), Goa (2.1), Manipur (1.9) and Himachal Pradesh(1.7).
AlthoughJharkhand and Rajasthan are among the states with lower GER, they have made asignificant improvement over the last over year (in 2018-19 compared to2017-18) with a positive increase by 1.1 and 1.3 respectively.
Higher
Education GER among females overtakes male GER
The All Indiaaverage for Higher Education GER among males is 26.3 while for females it is26.4. This is the first time that the GER among females is higher than that ofmales.  There is no change in the GER formales compared to last year. Higher education GER among males was also 26.3 in2017-18 whereas it was 26 in 2016-17.
On the otherhand, GER among females has shown a continuous positive trend. Five years agoi.e., in 2014-15, it was 23.2.  However, overthe five-year period, female GER is up by 3.2. During the same period, the maleGER increased only by 1.
Anothersignificant observation is in respect to the negative growth for male GER in 12of the 36 states/UTs for the year 2018-19 i.e. 1/3 of thestate/UTs have recorded a negative growth in terms of male GER.
Reflective ofits overall growth, Sikkim has the highest growth in GER for both males andfemales with increase 20.1 and 12.8 respectively.
Among otherstates, Uttarakhand recorded significant growth of 2.9 and 2.8 GER among maleand female population respectively. Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Goa, AndhraPradesh and Mizoram are among the states which have a positive growth in bothmale and female GER.
States/UTs likeKerala, Telangana, Delhi, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands etc.  have recorded negative growth of male GER in2018-19 which is compensated by higher GER among females resulting in overall positiveGER compared to 2017-18.
Punjab’s highernegative growth of male GER has offset the positive growth among for femaleGER.
Need for GER to
increase at more rapid rate to gain advantage of the Demographic Dividend
Indiapopulation is among the youngest in the world i.e. a larger portion of thepopulation is in the productive age.  Theskillset of this section of population will have a great influence in thedevelopment of the country, hence it is imperative that this section of thepopulation needs to have the right skills.
As seen in anearlier metrics, India’s higher education GER lags far behind many of thedeveloped countries. Few of the developing economies in
the world also have higher GERs when compared to India.
While thepositive trend in the female GER is encouraging, the decreasing trends in maleGER in multiple states/UTs is a cause for concern. Fewer Institutions of Highereducation within the reach, lack of variety of courses which offer higheremployability and better career prospects, fewer resources for research, lackof international recognition for Indian courses etc. are few of the reasonswhich influence the lower GER in India. Creating opportunities & world classinstitutions for Higher education has been one of the priorities during theearly years of Indian independence, as is evident from the establishment ofvarious IITs, IIMs and other centers of higher learning. However, over theyears, both the quality as well as the reach has not kept up with the growingneeds.
The Draft National
Education Policy (NEP) released earlier this year, takes cognizance of these issues thatimpact GER. Factly has earlier published an article about thevarious aspects related to higher education in the draft NEP. Practicalimplementation of the policies remains the key bottleneck and in view of thecurrent advantage in respect to demographic dividend, the reforms need to gobeyond paper.
Featured Image: Higher Education GER