An Open House Exclusively For Women Students At IIT-D On June 23

The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is all set to host an open house exclusively for the women candidates who have qualified in JEE (Advanced) 2019 on June 23. The open house will allow experts from IITs to answer to the queries or issues concerning admissions, exams, etc. of students and their parents.

It will be divided into two sessions of which the first session will start at 10 a.m. and the second session will begin at 2 p.m. Each session will be conducted for three hours. Apart from IIT-D, IIT Gandhinagar is also hosting open houses for all candidates in three locations in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Gandhinagar. First one is scheduled in New Delhi on June 22 on June 22, at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nipccd Campus, Hauz Khas. The second and third open house will be held on June 23 at Mumbai in the Walchand Hirachand Hall, Churchgate, and at the IIT Gandhinagar Campus.

The open house, which is part of the ‘Initiative for Gender Equity and Sensitization (IGES)’ of IIT-D started in 2018, focuses on debunking myths of an aspiring student especially women as very few women in comparison with men get through to IIT and then are allowed to join the prestigious institute. These counselling sessions provide an opportunity for women students to discuss their preferred branch or institute with faculty, current students, and alumni, and find out more about how life is for women at IIT in general and IIT Delhi in particular. Representatives from IIT Mandi will also be joining the open house.

IITs across the country this year have reserved 17% seats for women candidates only by creating sufficient supernumerary seats. The result for competitive exam JEE Advanced 2019 was declared on June 14 this year. A grand total of 161,319 candidates appeared in both papers 1 and 2 in JEE (Advanced) of which only 38,705 candidates passed the exam.

“Many parents often send their female child to a local college instead of IITs as they do not feel safe while sending their girls to a far-away campus. Also, many branches of study such as mechanical are not considered fit for females by many families. I would like to suggest that students should be able to opt for the course or campus of their choice without restricting their choices based on their gender.”

Now out of the 38,705 candidates, only 5356 are women. Ahmedabad’s Shabnam Sahay topped the exam among women candidates with an all India rank of 10 and Ananya Gupta topped IIT-Delhi zone with an all India rank of 233.

“The total number of female-only seats across all IITs is 2,415; whereas the total number of women who have qualified in JEE (Advanced), 2019 is 5,356. For qualified female candidates, this year they have quite a good chance of getting an IIT seat, and a better chance than previous years of getting a branch and IIT of their choice,” Sumeet Agarwal, nodal officer, JEE (Women) helpdesk, IIT Delhi told The Indian Express.

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He added, “All female candidates are advised to not go just by previous years’ closing ranks, but instead fill in as many of their genuine preferences as they can, in order to maximize their chances of getting a high-preference branch and/or campus.”

Agarwal noted that most parents of women students inquired about which branch should their child choose being a girl. “Many parents often send their female child to a local college instead of IITs as they do not feel safe while sending their girls to a far-away campus. Also, many branches of study such as mechanical are not considered fit for females by many families. I would like to suggest that students should be able to opt for the course or campus of their choice without restricting their choices based on their gender.”

Picture credit: Indiatimes

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