More Muslim women than men in higher education, shows AISHE data

Total estimated enrolment across categories rose 7.4% in 2021 with growing share of women, AISHE data shows

Women constitute around 503 out of every 1,000 Muslim students enrolled for higher education.

The rise in women’s share of higher education comes amid a drop in overall enrolment of Muslims during the pandemic. Female student figures declined slower than that of their male counterparts, shows an analysis of data from the government’s All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the year 2020-21, which was released over the weekend.

The pandemic is not the only reason for the figure, however. Muslim women’s share has been rising over time, shows an analysis of data from previous reports. The 2019-20 report, for example, shows a 50.2 per cent share. It was 49.3 per cent in 2018-19. The 2012-13 figure was 46.7 per cent.

The total estimated enrolment in higher education rose 7.4 per cent over the previous year to 41.4 million in 2020-21 across all categories. Higher education includes undergraduate courses and other degrees, diplomas and certificates. It fell 8.5 per cent for the Muslim community to 1.9 million. Enrolment for Muslim men fell 8.8 per cent to 0.95 million. Muslim women enrolment declined by a lower amount (8.3 per cent) to 0.97 million. Around 4.6 per cent of the overall students were Muslim in 2020-21 compared to 5.5 per cent in the previous year.

A smaller share of many minority communities may make it to higher education institutes, but women have a higher share among them. While it is 50.3 per cent for Muslims, it was 50.6 per cent for the scheduled tribes and 54 per cent for other minority communities. Other minority communities include Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain and Zorastrians (Parsis).

The share of women in higher education under the scheduled caste and other backward classes categories is 49.2 per cent. It is 47.8 for economically weaker sections, which do not belong to a reserved category but have an annual income of less than Rs 8 lakh. The lowest share is for persons with disabilities, where women constitute 37.6 per cent of the overall student population.

There has been a larger global trend where the importance of educating the girl child has been taking hold, including in West Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and North Africa; according to data from the Washington-based Pew Research Centre.

“Muslim women are generally making educational gains at a faster pace than Muslim men, thus narrowing the gender gap,” according to a December 2016 study by the agency.

The state with the highest female share in higher education is Kerala (60.1 per cent). Among Union Territories, it is 66.4 per cent for Ladakh and 78.5 per cent for Lakshadweep. A major contributor in terms of absolute numbers is Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. Fifty-four per cent of Muslims enrolled for higher education in the state are women. It is the only state among the top six in terms of highest student enrolments to have more Muslim women than men in higher education.

The other states include Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. They have between 43 and 49.5 per cent female share among Muslim students.