SOCIO ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF RESERVATIONS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN DELHI

Abstract

The societal development requires deliberate and effective restructuring of social frameworks within economic contexts. Historically, marginalized segments of society in India, including Scheduled Tribes (STs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), religious minorities, and women, have endured systematic exclusion from developmental opportunities, resulting in enduring disparities. Recognizing this, the Government of India has acknowledged the persistent need to uplift marginalized communities through affirmative action. Specifically, the government introduced reservation policies in educational institutions for socially backward castes (SCs, STs, and OBCs), permitting religious minorities to establish educational institutions, and looking at the cultural aspect, establishment of educational institutions only for women, aimed at improving their socio-economic and educational circumstances. However, implementing such policies, particularly in higher education institutions, has given rise to extensive debate due to its growing impact on the changing socio-economic aspects of the community. In this context, it is important to understand the effectiveness of affirmative action on access, equity, and outcomes in higher education, particularly in engineering education. Higher and technical education, including engineering, is widely acknowledged as crucial for community empowerment and advancement, producing dynamic capabilities among youth. Despite several studies examining the effects of reservation policies in education across India (Weisskopf, 2004; Cho, 2014; Basu, 2021; Ahmad, 2022), research specific to engineering and technical education remains limited. Thus, there is a pressing need for a comprehensive socio-economic analysis focusing on reservations and affirmative actions in engineering education to assess its effectiveness on marginalised or disadvantaged groups and identify areas for improvement. This study, focusing on social groups/castes (SC, ST and OBC), religious minorities, and gender, examines the inequalities in access to engineering education, their academic performance, and labour market outcomes in Delhi, India. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: i. To discuss all affirmative programmes offered by degree level engineering institutions in Delhi. ii. To investigate the socio-demographic and economic status of the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC), Religious Minorities and Male versus Female. vi iii. To analyse and compare the academic performance, placement and earnings among SC, ST and OBC engineering students. iv. To analyse and compare the academic performance, placement and earnings among religious minority students in engineering education. v. To analyse and compare the academic performance, placement and earnings of female engineering students with their male counterparts. Institutional and student questionnaires were used as survey tools to analyse these objectives. Data was collected from 18 engineering institutes in Delhi (13 government and 5 private) during the academic year 2018-19. Among 18 institutions, 3 minority institutes offer specific reservations for religious minorities and one institution exclusively for female candidates. For the student questionnaire, altogether, there are 3186 respondents, which are divided into two groups: socially backward caste students, and religious minority students. The analysis includes 2288 respondents from socially backward castes (SC, ST, and OBC) and 898 respondents from religious minority groups. Furthermore, gender-based analysis has been conducted by combining both groups. All the respondents are B-Tech fourth-year students who were purposefully surveyed to collect information about their academic and placement experiences. The first two objectives were discussed through descriptive statistics, and the rest were discussed through inferential statistics. The study delves into various affirmative actions, including reservation policies, aiming to promote equal opportunities. Also, the study examines the socio-demographic and economic backgrounds of students benefiting from reservations and their subsequent academic performance and labour market outcomes. The discussion about socio-demographic and economic background highlights the influence of family and economic factors on educational pursuits, suggesting that urban families may have better access to information and resources for engineering education. Furthermore, the association of parental education, occupation, and family income in determining enrolment in engineering education are emphasised. Additionally, findings reveal disparities in academic and labour market outcomes among different social groups under study. OBC students exhibit better academic performance, placements and earnings than their SC and ST counterparts. The academic performance of SC/ST students is about 38 per cent lower than that of OBC students, with SC and ST engineering students receiving fewer job offers and lower salaries than their OBC counterparts. vii This highlights disparities in academic and labour market outcomes among socially backward castes. Among religious minorities, Muslim students demonstrate substantial academic performance gaps, with their academic performance being around 71.4% lower than that of other minority students. Interestingly, Muslim students are 6% more likely to get job offers than their counterparts from other minority groups, although their earnings are almost 40% less. These results underline the presence of differences among minorities in both academic performance and the job market. Gender disparities are evident, with male students outperforming females academically, but females have more employment opportunities. Better employment opportunities for females here may result from changes in the labour market and policies within the country. Companies aiming to maintain the gender ratio in the workforce may prioritise hiring females due to their low representation in this field. However, male engineering students earn about 7% more than their female counterparts, indicating gender based wage disparity again favouring males. This disparity may arise from employers perceiving males as more productive, resulting in higher salaries for male engineers having better negotiating skills. Here, female graduates face discrimination in terms of academic performance and earnings. Overall, findings of the study suggest for the effective implementation of reservation policies to address disparities and enhance inclusiveness in engineering education. The findings are valuable addition to the growing literature on reservations in higher education and provide evidence-based insights for policymakers and educational institutions to improve the effectiveness and inclusivity of reservation policies.