Introduce 27 per cent OBC reservation in private universities: Parliamentary panel

NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Congress leader Digvijay Singh, recommended that reservation be made for OBC, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in private higher education institutions. The committee has recommended that 27% reservation be made for OBCs, 15% for Scheduled Tribes and 7.5% for Scheduled Castes. The Parliamentary Standing Committee tabled its report in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The report, citing data obtained, pointed out the abysmal number of students from the Scheduled Castes category in private institutions like BITS- Pilani, O.P. Jindal Global University and Shiv Nadar University

Education should be a key tool for achieving social justice in the country. The committee noted that the current lack of reservation in private higher educational institutions is an obstacle for very less students from backwards classes making it into the premium institutions. The committee also recommended that states should legislate to provide concessions in the high annual fees in private universities for the backwards classes.

Of the students admitted to government and private higher education institutions, 38.9% (1.7 crore) are OBCs (4.38 crore), 15.5% (67.87 lakh students) are Scheduled Castes, and 6.4% (28.25 lakh students) are Scheduled Tribes.

The Higher Education Department of the Union Ministry of Education informed the committee that since private universities are established through laws passed by state legislatures, it is the responsibility of the state governments to ensure appropriate legal provisions for reservation.

• Reservation should be ensured in centrally funded institutions like IITs, IIMs and central universities as per the 2006 Act relating to admission in central educational institutions.

• Assistance in the form of 25% reimbursement provided to private schools should also be provided to private higher educational institutions to implement reservation.

• Governments should allocate special funds to increase seats in private higher educational institutions, provide infrastructure and appoint teachers to implement reservations. Reservation should not affect general category seats.