Backwardpeople

'OBCs outscore general merit student

BANGALORE: The great OBC myth has been busted. The biggest concern of
the anti-reservation activists that introduction of castebased
reservations in higher education institutes would deteriorate the
quality of education has been debunked.

The final report of the Oversight Committee headed by M Veerappa Moily
to be submitted to PM Manmohan Singh will be backed by strong case
studies from southern states, including Karnataka, to establish how
OBC students have been consistently outscoring general category and
SC/ST students.

Sample this study on the performance of OBC students in Karnataka's
engineering colleges. The study pertained to the admission and
performance of four batches of students in Visvesvaraya Technological
University between 1998-2002 and 2001-2005.

While OBC students have a pass percentage of 93.01 to 97.4, general
merit students recorded just 66.09 to 94.77 from the 1998-2000 batch
to 2001-2005 batch.

The percentage of first class with distinction among OBC students was
between 37.7 and 42.38,while among SC/ST students it was between 9.32
and 11.90 in the same period.

An exclusive study by Bangalore University former vice-chancellor N R
Shetty at the behest of the Oversight Committee has concluded that
there has been no reduction or loss of performance due to introduction
of OBC candidates.

The study has only proved that given a chance, the so-called Backward
Classes can also perform. "In fact, OBC students have done better than
general category and SC/ST students. With the increasing
representation for the backward classes their performance may be
expected to improve," Shetty told The Times of India.

The study shows engineering colleges have been able to fill up the OBC
quota more easily than the SC/ST category. Against 32% reservation for
OBC students in Karnataka, the enrolment has been in the range of
21.17% to 29.69%, while intake of SC/ST students has been a paltry
5.35% to 6.66% against the recommended 18%.

"We don't want to stop just with engineering students. Shortly we will
study the performance of OBC students in medical and dental courses as
well. The aspect of excellence in terms of ranks in the Common
Entrance Test obtained by the OBC students will be explored," Shetty
added.

Moily committee has commissioned similar studies in Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which have been implementing reservation
policies favouring OBCs.