Higher Education and Employment Among The Lambada Community in Telangana State: An Analysis of Educational Attainment, Occupational Structure, and Employability.

Higher education is widely regarded as a mechanism for improving employment opportunities, income security, and socio-economic mobility. However, educational attainment does not necessarily translate into secure or appropriate employment, particularly among historically disadvantaged communities. This study examines higher education and employment-related conditions among the Lambada community in Telangana State using published findings from the Telangana Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) Survey 2024, supplemented by recent peer-reviewed studies published between 2023 and 2026. The research adopts a descriptive secondary-data design and distinguishes community-specific statistics from indicators relating to the wider Scheduled Tribe (ST) population. The SEEEPC Survey reports approximately 24.04 lakh people under the Lambadi community category, representing about 6.8% of the enumerated population. The survey's Independent Expert Working Group report indicates that 40.6% of ST individuals aged 21–65 were engaged in daily-wage work. It also reports that Lambadis accounted for 11% of approximately 89,000 children identified as daily-wage workers. Complementary field research by Gugulothu and Korra (2025) reported that 9.9% of the Lambada population represented in its educational-attainment table had graduated and 1.0% had postgraduate qualifications. These findings establish the importance of investigating educational progression and employment vulnerability together. However, the available published figures do not establish a verified employment rate specifically for Lambada graduates. The study argues that graduate employment must be measured through qualification-specific labour-force data, including employment status, occupation, earnings, and job–qualification matching. It recommends improved educational retention, professional skills development, career guidance, and community-specific graduate tracking to support evidence-based policy formulation in Telangana.