25% increase in number of girls from Bombay zone for IIT-JEE
There are far more girls set to appear for the Indian Institute
of Technology Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) in the Bombay zone in April 2012 than
before. The number of applications by girls has increased by nearly 25%
compared to last year. The Bombay zone includes Maharashtra, Goa Gujarat, parts
of Rajasthan and Belgaum in Karnataka. The last date to send in JEE applications
was December 15.
The JEE office is in the process of tabulating data from the applications. Last
year, around 16,500-odd candidates or 19% of the total 85,000-odd candidates who
registered from the Bombay zone for the JEE were girls. This year, girls account
for nearly 27% of the total candidates applying, with around 20,300 girls from among
76,600 candidates. The IITs have been constantly trying to address the skewed male-female
ratio at the IITs. "This is a significant increase," said AV Mahajan, chairperson
for JEE 2012, Bombay zone. "One reason for this could be that it was free for girls
to apply online this year as well as cheaper to apply offline as compared to male
applicants."
The applications charges were dropped this year to specifically encourage more girls
to apply, with offline applications costing 
200. In comparison, the charge for
boys to apply offline shot up to 1,800 compared to 1,000 last year. The number
of boys registered for JEE 2012 has gone down from 68,600 to 56,300 with the total
number of applicants falling because certain areas that were included in the Bombay
zone last year will be part of the Delhi zone for JEE 2012.
In 2011, of the total 16,500 girls who applied for the JEE in the Bombay zone, 327
(2%) cleared the exam. Across the country, 4.68 lakh candidates appeared for the
JEE. Of these, 13,602 candidates cleared the exam including 1,491 girls. The exam
will be held on April 8 next year and will be organised by IIT-Delhi this time.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
