File photo of aspirants standing in queue before appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2025 , in Patna on May 18
Jaipur: The National Testing Agency (NTA) data released with the JEE Main 2026 results Monday showed 30,274 more girls appeared for the exam this year than last year.This year, 5,31,593 girls appeared for the exam compared to 5,01,319 girls in 2025.This year, the greatest number of girls appeared for the exam compared to the past five years. In 2021, 2,80,067 girls appeared for the exam across all categories, which dipped to 2,57,031 in 2022. This increased to 3,38,963 girls appearing for the exam in 2023; however, it dropped to 3,29,600 in 2024.This rise, experts say, signals growing female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and could boost engineering college enrolments nationwide.Avinash K Agarwal, director of IIT Jodhpur, said, “Most of the IITs have 20% reservation for girls. In IIT Jodhpur, 28% of the students are girls. If more girls are appearing and qualifying in JEE, this will certainly improve the participation of girls in technical education. This is a welcome step for the country as females have a very different way of approaching problems compared to men, and they will be able to contribute in a positive manner towards technical problems.
”Prof NP Padhy, director MNIT Jaipur said, “It is fascinating to see the increasing numbers of women in engineering. It shows the shift in the mindset of the society. In campus too, we can see increased participation of girls not just in classrooms, but also extra curricular activities. Girls are also sitting for core engineering jobs now.”While most girls appeared for the exam this year, there was no female candidate this year among the 26 candidates who scored 100 percentile this year. Telangana’s Mallavarapu Aasna emerged as the highest-scoring female candidate with a near-perfect 99.998 percentile. The absence of a female 100-percentiler marks a shift from 2025, when at least one girl featured among the top scorers.
