Nitish Kumar said 33 per cent of seats in colleges should be reserved for girls. (File photo)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday suggested that one-third of seats in medical and engineering colleges of the state be reserved for girl students.
He made a suggestion to the effect upon perusal of presentations by the departments of health and science and technology about setting up of medical and engineering universities in the state.
Mr Kumar observed that the establishment of the varsities would facilitate better management of engineering and medical colleges and added "33 per cent of seats in these colleges should be reserved for girls".
"This would be a unique endeavour and go a long way in ensuring a higher enrolment of girls in these technical institutes of higher learning. Girls will, thus, also feel encouraged to take more interest in pursuing such courses", Mr Kumar said.
The chief ministers averments were in line with his sustained emphasis on the empowerment of women which has been manifest in much-praised schemes like free bicycles and uniforms to girls going to school and quotas for women in Panchayats.
Mr Kumar also reiterated that his government was committed to ensuring that there was a sufficient number of medical and engineering colleges so that boys and girls interested in these disciplines did not feel compelled to migrate to other states for their studies.
"To this end, we have set up many medical colleges and all districts have at least one engineering college", he pointed out.
Others who attended the function via video conferencing included Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi, Health Minister Mangal Pandey, and Minister for Science and Technology Sumit Singh.