Indian Education needs to be Market-Ready

India’s human resources has been under the spotlight for sometime now. However, a large part of this demographic dividend may not be market ready, as a recent study has revealed that even the country’s educated youth are unemployable.

The report is question — The Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey — says that, 57% of students in the country are educated but are not adequately prepared for employment. Additionally, it also states that 75% teachers felt the need for a restructuring of course curricula in sync with industry and they felt that the country’s education assessment framework lacks specific action points for teachers and parents to enable holistic education.

The report suggests that 57% of students, who have been provided education, are not adequately prepared for employment.

A majority of teachers and parents have also expressed favourable opinion on using technology to aid teaching. The study assumes critical importance as, by 2030, India will be among the youngest nations in the world and with nearly 140 million people in the college-going age group, in other words, 25% graduates in the world will be a product of the Indian higher education system. However, the courses and teachers need to be in sync with the ever-evolving Industries and business to ensure that the skills of Indian students meet with the demand.

In addition to this, the government must put in place an organised system to ‘provide labour market information in terms of the supply-demand position in the labour market to guide the training policies and its providers, prospective labour force and the employers’. However, this seems like an idealistic situation, as currently, even the most basic level of education in India is weak and incoherent, and lacks mentors who can guide students, and give direction to the system as well. As a result, India might end up severely under-utilising one of its greatest resources: students.