Chennai, Mar 10 (UNI) University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Sukhadeo Thorat today said the general enrolment ratio in rural areas was 5.58 per cent, compared to 20.44 per cent in the urban areas.

Inaugurating the Conference on Higher Education and Inclusive Development, here, he said that the Muslims are found to have not only the lowest general enrolment ratio (GER) of 5.23 per cent, but their GER is nearly one-half of the national average, while other religious group have higher GER than the national average of 10.10 per cent.'' Professor Thorat said the GER for girls was also found to be only eight per cent, compared to 12 per cent for boys. Significantly, the GER for female belonging to lower caste and some social groups, particularly Muslims, were even worse.

''To promote the participation of women in higher education, hostel and other infrastructure facilities for women in colleges and universities are proposed,'' he said.

Emphasising the need for inclusive education, Professor Thorat observed that UGC had stressed the need for inclusive education in the 11th Five-Year plan.

The Chairman of the Madras Institute of Developmental Studies Professor M Anandakrishnan pointed out that the Union Government had increased the budget allocation for higher education by 34 per cent in the current Budget.

Madras University Vice-Chancellor Ramachandran said the Union Planning Commission had fixed a target of 20 per cent general enrolment ratio for the Eleventh five year plan.

UNI