Guwahati: A survey of the Centre has revealed that the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher educational institutions of two northeastern states - Assam and Nagaland - is far lower than the national average.

The All India Survey on Higher Education (2016-17), published by the Union ministry of human resource development, shows that while the national GER in higher educational institutions is 25.2 per cent it is only 17.2 per cent for Assam and 16.6 per cent for Nagaland (see chart).

GER in higher education in India is calculated for the age group of 18-23 years.

On the other hand, the GER for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Schedule Tribe (ST) is better than the state average. The ratio for the SCs and STs are 19 and 22.5 respectively. The survey covered all the higher education institutions in the country.

The report says Assam has two central universities, three institutes of national importance, 11 state public universities and one open university. It says Assam has 541 colleges with average enrolment per college is 917.

Director in charge of the State Council for Education Research and Training, Assam (SCERT), and former principal of Cotton College Nirada Devi said lack of adequate higher educational institutions is one of the reasons of the low GER in Assam.

"There is a shortage of educational institutions to absorb all students who clear the Class XII examination. Some states have a large number of skill-based higher educational institutions that can absorb many students. There is a shortage of such skill-based institutions in Assam," she said.

"The state government is giving emphasis on skill-based educations. If it continues, I hope that the gap would come down to some extent," she said, adding that the SCERT is planning to hold a consultancy meet on the issue within a few months.

The national GER is 21.1 per cent and 15.4 per cent for the SC and ST respectively. The national GER for male population is 26 per cent and 24.5 per cent for female population.