Telangana's Muslim candidates ahead of peers nationally

Hyderabad: The rate of enrolment of Muslim students in higher education in Telangana is far ahead of national figures. While 8.11% students were enrolled for higher studies in Telangana, the national average for the same is 4.87%.

According to the recently released All India Education Survey on Higher Education 2016-17 of the HRD Ministry, a total of 35,70,5905 students in India were pursuing higher studies, of which 17,39,218 belong to the Muslim community.

In proportion to their population, Muslims fared worse than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Muslims comprise 14% of the country’s population but account for only 4.87% of students enrolled in higher education.

In Telangana, however, the situation was different, with the youngest State standing sixth in the country. The State has 1,16,803 Muslim students against a total of 14,38,737 students in the higher education sector.

Though the proportion of Muslims in Telangana against the national Muslim population was just 2.4%, Telangana still had 6.7% of the country’s Muslim students in higher classes. Though States like Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal have more percentage of Muslim students compared with Telangana, they trailed in terms of proportion with their Muslim population.

In South India, Telangana stands second after Kerala in terms of Muslim student enrolment. Kerala has 11.74% Muslim students. Jammu & Kashmir topped with a ratio of 35.84% Muslim students, while Assam was second with 12.89% and Kerala third in the list.

West Bengal has 11.17% Muslim students while Bihar was slightly ahead of Telangana with 8.73%.

The ratio of Muslim students in Telangana in 2014-15 was 6.8%, which went up to 8.11% in just two years,. Many attributing the increase to the initiatives of the State government. The dropout rate had come down, officials point out.

The number of female Muslim students in Telangana was 48,670, which accounted for 41.66% of the total Muslim students in the State.