In a world lopsided in favour of men right from birth, some pre-university colleges in Bengaluru are trying to bring “gender balance” by setting higher cut-offs for girls. We’d facepalm, but the headache’s too much to handle already.
According to a report in The Times of India, the cut off for boys applying for Science is 92% in Bengaluru’s MES PU College, while for girls it is 95%. Similarly, in Christ Junior College, the cut off for boys opting for the Science stream is 94.1%, while for girls it is 95.1%. By way of explanation, Christ University Vice-Chancellor Father Abraham told TOI said, “Girls are smart, and this is not a new trend. If there is no higher cut off the college will only have girls. The higher cutoff is to bring in gender balance.”
Tara Krishnaswamy, the co-founder of Shakti, an organization campaigning for more women took to social media over the report. “When women do well, raise the bar. Punish them. When men do well, it’s called? Merit,” she wrote in the Facebook post.
According to the latest report by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, 39.4% of girls aged between 15-18 years, drop out of schools and colleges. Of the girls who drop out, 64.8% do so not because they are working, but because they are forced to take on household chores, or are engaged in begging.
