New Delhi: An assessment of board exam results of Class 10 and 12 by the Union education ministry has revealed that most students who belong to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities have not opted for science in Class 11 in the past decade.

The Tribune and Times of India have both reported on this fact, highlighting that 37% of students belonging to SC communities and 30% of students from ST communities opted for science. The overall percentage of students who did, was 47.

This assessment was done under the Union government's PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis) scheme.

Arts is the preferred stream for students from both lists, the assessment finds, with 48% of SC students and 57.3% of ST students choosing it in Class 11.

More girls from SC and ST communities chose the arts stream, than boys. More boys from communities on these two lists chose the science stream, than girls.

Tribune highlights that 35 lakh students who enrolled in Class 10 in 2021-22 – the last academic year that the assessment looks at – did not progress to Class 11.

Earlier this year, an article on the respected journal Nature had identified how India’s caste system limits diversity in the study of science. The report noted how universities in India were failing to meet government quotas for marginalised communities in academia.

Earlier reports have essayed brutal discrimination favouring privileged castes and communities in India's premier science institutions.

Meanwhile, two days ago, it had been reported that the enrolment of SC, ST and Other Backward Classes in higher education improved by 4.2%, 11.9% and 4% while that of the Muslim community declined by 8%, according to the AISHE Survey 2020-21.

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