Gujarat: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has come out with some startling facts about Gujarat's Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) - " 20 out of 26 educationally backward districts in Gujarat have failed to enroll students in colleges, which is below the national average of 12.4.

However, Gujarat government said that the GER revealed by the UGC is not an updated one.

GER is the ratio of students aged between 18 and 23 enrolled in higher education institutes to the entire population in that age group.

With a percentage of 4.1 Banaskantha district is at the bottom of GER, followed closely by Dangs with 4.3 per cent and Surendranagar with 4.4 per cent. Mehsana is better among the worst which is 11.4 percent GER.

Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh are the only other states besides Gujarat which have more than 20 Educationally Backward Districts.

Among these, Gujarat is only a shade better than Rajasthan in GER.

Principal Secretary (Education) Hansmukh Adhia said that according to the state government the latest GER of the state would be about 13-14 though a district-wise number is not available as against the UGC data. He also asserted that the "GER in Gujarat is not below the national average."

Emphasizing the fact that the UGC may not have used the latest data, he said that over the last two or three years an upward trend has been noticed in the number of students passing higher secondary.

This will have a reflection on Gujarat's GER in the next two years. He also said that measures are being taken to enroll more students in the colleges which is the ultimately decide the GER.