Around seven million graduate in India every year. According to various reports, depending on the stream, 50 to 94 per cent are deemed unemployable as they lack the skill-sets and practical abilities needed to do well in today’s jobs.
Most of what they learn in college is focussed on preparing them for the jobs of yesterday. Very little is geared towards what is needed for today and nothing to prepare them for the future.
“Most young people in India finish college feeling lost about what to do next and are ill-equipped with the skills needed to get into the jobs that they want, or a job at all,” says Shronit Ladhani, founder of NASSCOM and Essel Group supported edu-media startup Career Ninja.
Universities are realising this, along with the fact that they cannot adapt their curriculum, quality of teachers and teaching style to keep pace. Others are barely aware and are focussed on filling their seats. Most believe the solution to this is making internships compulsory, leading to students running about and taking up any internship that they get.
“But who is helping them get the internships? Most students have no guidance. Also, how are colleges checking the quality of internships their students take up and the learning from it? And are they collaborating with Industry to provide the required amount of internships?,” questioned Ladhani.
“We are ensuring our content can play a key role in helping students on how to apply for and get internships across various fields along with pointing to some of the best organisations in them. Further, connecting students to young professionals in their space as part of a mentoring program gives them much needed personalised guidance.”
The Government, too, is aware of this skill-gap, as can be seen by the large push on skilling initiatives. But one of the largest problem of those, amongst the many, is that the students aren’t coming and taking them up.
“We need a real solution. I have realised that nothing will work well until the intent in the student isn’t strong enough. We need to put the ownership of their future on the students. We should help them understand where their interests and abilities lie, to find what they are passionate about. We must then inspire them to take action and guide them on how to prepare for a career they are passionate about. Today, the average student just wants a job, any job, because he has no idea. And because he is not driven about it, he isn’t doing much to equip himself. Despite the numerous courses available online, only a tiny percentage of students take these up,” Ladhani said and believes if every young person is allowed and given support to work on their passions and interests, they will themselves ensure that they build the rights skills for the job.
“One has to show them the way and cheer them on. And if each person becomes skilled for careers that exist today and will exist in the future, our country will be able to harness its biggest advantage, the large youth population in the country,” Ladhani said.
