Learn to earn: From brain drain to growing startups, new trend in education

24/1/2018              Vanita  Srinivas

Education is a priority item on the Nation’s agenda. The same is reflected in our slogan ‘Padega India, Tabhi toh Badega India’. The government in its current Union budget allocated 9.9% more in comparison to previous year’s budget for the education sector. India allocates 3.3% of GDP whereas , globally the share of education sector is 4.9% of GDP.

As per the statistics 73% of colleges are privately managed (58% Private-unaided and 15% Private aided) and 27% are Government Colleges. A further cross section of data reveals that 31% of the students enroll for graduation in Arts with next highest, ie. 19% enrolment for Engineering. Having said that, it implies that of all technical courses BE /B Tech are the most sought after courses.  Further analysis reveals that the highest enrolment for Doctorate Courses is 22% for Masters in Science and closely trailing behind are 20.5% Engineers opting for PhD. The data quite obviously points out that a large chunk of job aspirants are technically savvy, Professionals.

Although a strong thrust is being projected by advocating foreign investment, startups and likewise initiatives for proper utilization of the talent of the young educated force, yet the actual scenario is not even remotely serving the purpose of these initiatives. Professionals are being recruited for a paltry amount of salary and the nature of job in most of the cases is not associated with the curriculum in the college. All the specialized courses across India are facing a similar fate. Most of the fresher are compelled to initiate their career with a meager amount. (Approx @ Rs. 15000).

Undoubtedly the fresh graduates experience the employment shocks. One apparent reason for this jolt is probably that education does not seem to appear correlated to being optimally employed or may be there is a skill gap ie., a mismatch between the skills being learnt and the demand of the jobs.

As per the UNESCO Reports 34.4% (between the ages of 24-29 years) are still uneducated in our country. With the persistent push of the Government policies if all are educated then the job market scenario will be even worse.

Entry level jobs decide the psyche of the youngsters. If the Professionals are not being optimally employed both with respect to their expertise and also with respect to the salaries they draw, then they are bound to be disenchanted. One of the main purposes of higher studies is not achieved and this leads to disillusionment. The situation is alarming because it’s a challenge to find a befitting job for the highly educated. The expected cycle of education and employment is that higher education makes way for greater skills and this in turn yields greater productivity and subsequently higher income. But the same is not happening.

Job markets depend a lot on national and international business scenario. Majority of the aspirants prefer to do wage jobs hence it’s pertinent to mention that skills should be developed as per the requirement of the job market. However, ‘The Startups’ and ‘Skill India’ initiatives urging the talented youth to create and generate employment has not yet gained momentum.

The ‘Pandits’ like economists and academecians should give a thought to this issue