Analysing the reservation policy in higher education in India

Abstract

Rising inequalities in community are becoming a major concern for everyone. Among inequalities in various fields, inequalities in education, and particularly inequalities in higher education, are extremely as too serious to ignore. The available studies on disparity and inequality in access to higher education in India have largely examined the issue from the perspective of the social category. However, far too little has been done to examine social determinants as a factor for reservation. Although the arising debate over higher education in India has raised a number of interesting policy issues, and the author has highlighted a few of them in this research, particularly the interaction between social determinants and access to higher education, in order to facilitate a more evidence - based policy discourse on the subject. Using AISHE data from 2011-12 to 2019-20, an attempt is made here to analyse the trend in Gross Enrolment Ratio and disparity in access to higher education in India through a literature review. The number of student enrolled in each group and their proportion of total enrolment have been calculated. It was estimated for all three SC, ST, and OBC categories, as well as all states and union territories.