After IITs, MHRD has instructed NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology), Shibpur to work on increasing women admission in their colleges so as to maintain gender equality in colleges. To increase the number of female candidates in such colleges, MHRD has asked NITs and IIESTs to admit a minimum of 14% female students in their colleges. To ensure meritorious students does not get affected as a result of such change, institutes have been asked to add supernumerary seats if required.

"The idea is to restore a gender balance among premier engineering colleges as they have been highly skewed against the girls. Entrance exams are so tough that one cannot crack it without rigorous coaching. Generally, girls are not sent to coaching centres which are in far-flung areas such as Kota and Hyderabad," said by an MHRD official.

The admission to NITs and IIEST is based on JEE Main entrance exam score and common counselling process which is conducted by JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority).

Read More: Separate Merit List For Girls In IITs

JEE faced a decline of 50,989 applicants this year as compared to last year. So by making 14% seats available for female candidates, the number of enrollment may also increase from coming years.

One other reason why such change is brought in the admission ratio is the difficulty level of JEE is hard and students have to opt for coaching institutes to prepare themselves for the examination. And parents of female candidates find it a difficult decision to send their daughters to coaching centers far away from their home. So the number of female candidates qualifying at such examination also decreases.