Bridging the gap between Education and Employment in Modern India

ABSTRACT: The youth population of the country occupies the bulk of its work force. India today experiences a “demographic dividend’ which most developed countries can’t enjoy because of their ageing population. Unfortunately, India has not been able to take the full advantage of the demographic dividend as a major part of its youth are not fit for employability. Lack of literacy, high dropout rates along with poor quality of education ensure that employment opportunities remain limited to a few. The curriculum taught in schools and colleges being too theoretical and outdated, there is a big gap between demand and supply of skilled workers. Moreover, in India, the highest enrolment takes place in the Arts stream whereas employers clearly prefer graduates with technical degrees. Most of the technical institutions which have cropped up in the recent years are managed privately and are quite expensive. These institutions thus happen to be outside the reach of the youth from low or middle-class backgrounds. These youth are therefore mostly absorbed in the informal sector with poor wages and limited social security. The net result is India is struggling today with unemployment and underemployment of its youth. The present paper takes an in-depth view of the Indian education diaspora and its connections with the job market. The paper analyses the data from various database and government reports to critically analyse the factors that are leading to the gap between education and employability. Lastly, the paper comes up with policy prescriptions such as investment in skill training and a shift from the old theoretical approach of learning to a more creative way of learning as some of the measures that can help India to bridge the gap between higher education and employability. Keywords- Education, Skills, Job opportunities, Vocational training, employability, youth unemployment.