The ratio of girls and girls in IITs is now better as earlier the campuses were only filled with boys. This gender disparity was evident in the day and age when our parents pursued their education because girls were only told to do household chores. But as this scenario is changing, another major change was seen in the administrative policy of the IIT as well. What I mean to say is years after IIT institutes all over the country were built, they have appointed their first female Director-in-Chief. Yes, meet Preeti Aghalayam, who is an IIT Madras alumna and has now gone on to become the first female to head an IIT.
Preeti Aghalayam has a chemical engineering degree from IIT Madras where she studied in 1995. Later, also pursued her PhD from the University of Massachusetts in the year 2000. Over the course of years, Preeti Aghalayam taught at IIT Bombay and even at IIT Madras. When she was at the IIT, she participated in the Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions programme whose aim was to bring about gender equality within the institute.
Aghalayam is appointed as the Director-in-Chief of the new IIT in Zanzibar, located in Tanzania. Why Zanzibar is because IIT Madras opened their first ever international campus here which is an educational collaboration between India and Africa. The first set of classes here will begin in October.
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Talking about the male-female gender ratio at IIT Madras, Preeti Aghalayam was quoted saying to India Today that the minority status of women in IITs is not a secret. She also revealed that there are about 12 per cent of women at IIT Madras. Keeping this difference in mind, IIT institutes have now secured about 20 per cent of their seats for female students.
Preeti Aghalayam’s appointment will hopefully inspire more women to secure places in IITs.