Of every 100 young people in the college-going age band (18 to 23), how many are attending higher education, a graduate or postgraduate course. Measured from a household survey, so every community is counted the same way.
From microdataReproduce this view. This figure is recomputed from the unit-level survey microdata, the raw NSS or PLFS records behind the linked source. Source: NSS 75th 25.2 Education (2017-18). Each value is computed from the data file · transform code; every row records its own source and method.
Bottom line
Just 14.5% of Muslims aged 18 to 23 were attending higher education in 2017, against 24.2% of Hindus and 22.8% nationally: the lowest rate of any major community. Fewer than 15 in every 100 college-age Muslims are in a degree course, so the school-level literacy gap widens into a much larger gap at the top of the system.
How to read the chart
The chart sets the Muslim higher-education attendance rate beside Hindus, the all-India average and other communities for 2017, the one year a household survey measured it the same way for everyone; taller is better. This is a single snapshot, not a trend, so there is no line over time. The By sex tab splits the rate into Muslim men and women.
Why it matters
Higher education is the gateway to secure, salaried and professional work. A community that sends a far smaller share of its young people to college stays concentrated in informal, low-paid jobs, and the disadvantage compounds across generations.
Status
Behind
Muslim 14.5% vs Hindu 24.2% in 2017, 9.7pp behind. This is the widest community gap on the dashboard at the top of the education ladder, and it follows directly from the weaker school completion that comes before it.
Deeper analysis
Potential drivers
Poverty · Higher education costs money and forgoes a wage, so poorer Muslim households pull young people into work before college ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
The school pipeline · With the highest school dropout of any large community, far fewer Muslims reach Class 12 in the first place, the gate to any degree ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
First-generation barrier · With few graduate parents, Muslim students navigate admissions, entrance exams and scholarships without family experience to draw on ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
Not madrasas · The common claim that Muslims choose religious schooling over college is not the cause: Sachar found only about 4% of Muslim children attend a madrasa ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
Fix the pipeline first · The largest gains come earlier, by keeping Muslim students in school through to Class 12 ↗ Sachar Committee Report, 2006.
Deliver scholarships reliably · The Post-Matric and Merit-cum-Means schemes exist; the Post-Sachar priority is consistent delivery, not new schemes ↗ Post-Sachar Evaluation Committee, 2014.
Reach girls · The female shortfall is widest at this level, so women's access moves the rate the most.
Back minority colleges · Protect and strengthen Article 30 minority higher-education institutions through the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions.
Key stakeholders
Ministry of Minority Affairs: The Union ministry, created in 2006, that runs scholarship and development schemes for India's notified minorities, including the Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit-cum-Means scholarships.
Zakat Foundation of India80G + FCRA ↗: An Indian trust that channels Zakat into competitive-exam coaching, scholarships, skill training and orphan care for the Muslim community. Donate ↗
Human Welfare Foundation: A foundation whose Vision 2026 programme builds and supports schools and runs scholarships, health and livelihood projects in disadvantaged, largely minority areas across India. Donate ↗
Association of Muslim Professionals: A volunteer professionals' body that runs higher-education scholarships, a national talent search and school-development work to widen Muslim access to education. Donate ↗
Muslim Education Trust, Delhi: A voluntary educational trust that administers Islamic Development Bank and its own scholarships for minority students.
Markazul Ma'arifFCRA registered ↗: An Assam-based NGO that runs schools for educationally backward communities alongside relief, health and skills work, open to all irrespective of faith. Donate ↗
Aga Khan Education Service, IndiaFCRA registered ↗: The Aga Khan network's Indian education arm, running schools and early-childhood programmes. Founded by the Ismaili community, it serves all communities.
PrathamGiveIndia vetted ↗: One of India's largest education NGOs, raising children's foundational reading and arithmetic, and the producer of the annual ASER learning survey. Donate ↗
Badges link to an independent or registered credential where the organisation publishes one (Credibility Alliance, GiveIndia, 80G, FCRA). Many smaller NGOs do not take part in these registries, so a missing badge is not a mark against an organisation.
About this measurement
Definition. Of every 100 young people in the college-going age band (18 to 23), how many are attending higher education: a graduate or postgraduate degree course (after Class 12). Measured from a household survey that asks each family directly, so Muslims, Hindus and the all-India average are counted the same way.
Methodology. NSS Gross Attendance Ratio for "post higher secondary": persons currently attending graduate or postgraduate study (any age; NSS "level of current enrolment" codes 15 and 16) over the population aged 18-23, x100, from NSS 75th round Schedule 25.2 (Household Social Consumption: Education, July 2017-June 2018) unit-level data. Code 14 (diploma/certificate at graduation level) is excluded; including it overshoots the published cells by ~6%, and codes 15+16 reproduce all nine NSS Report 585 Statement 8 cells (rural/urban/all x male/female/person) to within 0.05pp. The statement does not split by religion, so the religion split is that validated pipeline applied to the religion-of-head variable.
This REPLACES the former AISHE administrative GER, which tagged only ~7% of all enrolment to a religion and so undercounted every community (its grouped "Other Minority Community" read ~13%, impossible for the highly-educated Christian/Sikh/Jain communities it pools) and published no Hindu figure. On the household-survey basis Muslims attend at 14.5%, Hindus 24.2%, all-India 22.8% (matching the published figure exactly): Muslims are at about 60% of the Hindu rate, the lowest of the major communities, with Muslim women (12.1%) below Muslim men (16.8%). Single validated round, so a snapshot: PLFS publishes no attendance ratio and runs ~8pp high for the same year, and the 71st (2014) education round is Nesstar-locked.