Participation in higher Education of socially excluded population (scheduled caste/scheduled tribes)-an assessment of Indian States

In the emerging scenario of knowledge based society of 21st century, higher education becomes a crucial issue in creating skilled and knowledgeable human resources. The Indian constitution resolves to provide quality education to socially excluded population and the Government of India has earmarked 15 percent and 7.5 percent reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes respectively for enrolment in higher education. In this context the research study on, Participation in higher education of socially excluded population (Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes)-An assessment of Indian States was formulated with the objectives of finding out the state wise variation in enrolment of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes in higher education, and identifying the determinants of participation in higher education The study was related to 17 major States of India. The required data were compiled from All India Survey on Higher Education. The study was related to 2013–2014, 2014–2015 and 2015–2016. The study applieddiscriminant analysis and calculated social group disparity index and gender disparity index. The study found that in the reference period on an average, the gross enrolment ratio in higher education for scheduled caste was found to be the highest in Tamil Nadu (32.9%) and lowest in Bihar (8.7%). The enrolment ratio in higher education for scheduled tribes was found to be the highest in Tamil Nadu (30.8%) and lowest in Madhya Pradesh (7.8%). The significant determinant of enrolment in higher education for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes was population in the age group of 18–23 years. The study recommended that States with higher share of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes population must be provided higher share in the national corpus meant for higher education.