1st time, girls take lead in Bamu's Youth Festival

By Mehboob Inamdar

Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar:

For the first time in its history, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) has recorded a significant rise in the participation and success of girls in various competitions at the District and Central Youth Festivals (D/CYF), mirroring trends seen in recent HSC and SSC examinations.

It may be noted that the pass percentage of female students has been on the rise in the secondary and higher secondary examinations in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division during the last 10 years. The number of male students was high compared to the number of girls in the Youth Festivals until 2024.

The ratio of girls' participation in the Youth Festival has surpassed the percentage of boys in the four districts which fall within the jurisdiction of Bamu from the recently held Youth Festival.

For the past 12 years, Bamu has only conducted the Central Youth Festival (CYF). The percentage of girls participating was 46.46 (853), while the number of male participants was 983 (53.54). The percentage of boys compared to girls was higher by around 7.08.

For the first time, the participation of girls witnessed an increase in the history of Bamu.

Vice Chancellor Dr Vijay Fulari decided to decentralise the festival so that participants can get a platform easily and the best facilities. The first level is called District Youth Festival (DYF) while the second level is CYF. The DYF was conducted from September 8 to 20 in four districts. The top three winners of each contest were eligible to participate in the CYF that was hosted on the Bamu campus between September 27 and 29.

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Admin provided opportunity to rural students

Director of Students Development Board Dr Kailas Ambhure said that students specially from rural areas, had some kind of fear and hesitation to present their art and creativity in CYF.

“The ratio of girls participating in the Youth Festival was a bit low compared to boys until 2024. It has increased this year as the administration provided an opportunity to rural students through holding DYF,” he added.

A total of 2164 young artists from 346 colleges within the jurisdiction of the university participated in the Youth Festival this year. The percentage of girls' participation is higher by 14.88 compared of boys this year.

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Youth Festival-- 2025

The figure of district-wise pc of male and female participants is as follows;

District—College--female------male------------total

CSN-------------151--571 (57.97)-414 (42.03)-985

Jalna----71-------217 (57.87)-----158 (42.13)----375

Beed---77---------253 (52.06)-----233 (47.94)---486

Dharashiv--47----202 (63.52)----116 (36.48)----318

Total-------346----1243 (57.44)----921 (42.56)---2164