Odisha’s GER declines to 21.7 per cent, reveals AISHE

BHUBANESWAR: The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education of Odisha declined to 21.7 per cent (pc) for 2019-20 academic session as compared to 22.1 pc in 2018-19, revealed the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) for 2019-20 released by the Ministry of Education on Thursday.

The GER measures enrolment of population in 18-23 age group in higher education. As per the report, the GER of the State was 22 pc in 2017-18 and over 20 pc in 2016-17.

While the ratio among male students came down to 23 pc from 24.2 pc in 2018-19, there was a marginal improvement among females from 20 pc in 2018-19 to 20.3 pc in 2019-20. 

While the ratio among Scheduled Caste students in higher education dropped to 19.7 pc in 2019-20 from 20 pc in 2018-19, the GER among Scheduled Tribe students increased from 12.8 pc (2018-19) to 13.5 pc (2019-20).

Odisha’s GER was also around 5 pc less than the national average of 27.1 pc in 2019-20. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal’s ratio remained 35.2 pc and 19.9 pc respectively.

This apart, Odisha’s estimated enrolment at various level of higher education during the period remained at 9.94 lakh.