bridging the skills gap - india context

Bridging the Skills Gap - India Context

The issue of skills gap in India poses a great concern to educational institutions and the

industry alike. The experts are busy connecting the dots between the inadequacy of

industry-oriented curriculum in the universities and shortage of skilled professionals that

leave hundreds of thousands of jobs unfilled at a time when there is already high

unemployment. India is set to have the largest working population by 2030. In the next

five years, the problem will be more on the supply side than a demand crisis as the

skills gap is bound to witness a twofold increase in comparison to the labor work force.

The Indian economy has witnessed a slump in the past two years, which has affected

the youth unemployment, especially for graduates seeking white-collar jobs. Even so,

some sections of the economy are desperately seeking skilled workers. Every year

almost four lakh Engineering students pass out from their colleges, out of which only

two lakh get jobs in industries and rest two lakh struggle for employment. The problem

is acute in India, both in terms of education and skilling. India's demographic hump

predicts that the hundreds of millions of young people who will enter the job market

might prove to be onerous to the nation.

According to a report, the attrition in India is at 14 percent which is marginally higher

than the global and Asia Pacific countries (11.20 per cent and 13.81 per cent

respectively). There are monumental challenges involved in attracting talent with critical

skills and more than that in retaining the high performers. According to a Hay Group

study, the employee turnover in India was predicted to rise to 26.9% in 2013 with an

employee base of Rs 3 crores compared with 26% in 2010 on an employee base of Rs

2.8 crores.

A large percentage of the young students who pass out of the undergraduate colleges

and universities fail miserably to get a job, not to mention a job of their liking. There are

several reasons for the same. Obsession with text book learning and white-collar

dreams are the more prominent ones. Most of them are averse to the idea of taking up

a blue-collar job even if it could assure them of a decent income and employment. India

has excellent alumni from the top universities and educational institutions who are very

capable of finding work or securing a great career both domestically and abroad.

But that is just the picture on the surface. The real problem lies beneath it. A large part

of the university programs either do not cater to the needs of the industry or possess

of 3


obsolete and irrelevant teaching methodologies that fail to impart the right skills. Hence

the graduates are left with no choice but to settle for work that is nowhere related to or

beneath their capabilities.

In the typical Indian mindset, if an undergraduate college aspirant doesn’t opt to be an

engineer or a doctor, it is indirectly implied that he or she is not evolving towards a

secure or promising career. The societal pressure, parental force and the faulty mindset

(which could be termed as herd mentality) contribute their fair share in widening the

skills gap. There is an unbridgeable disparity between what the students are taught and

the skill-sets that employers look for. The situation is further worsened by an apparent

lack of skilled trainers and a poorly paid, under resourced teaching group.

Students must have the latitude to choose the area of their interests, wherein they can

thrive and take their professional careers ahead. There is no point in making a hue and

cry when a high performer or an employee leaves an organization prematurely. The root

cause lies in the fact that either the right candidate was not hired or the wrong candidate

was hired for the right job.

To address these issues, one of the laudable initiatives of the government is the

establishment of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to achieve the

target of skilling / upskilling 150 million people by 2022 by fostering private sector

initiatives in the skill development space. It is not as if we are short of talent. The issue

lies in the recruitment of young talent for skills which have nothing to do with what they

study in college. Even so, when young graduates do join the organization and later

discover a disconnect between their skills and the job roles offered to them, they still

linger on, just for the sake of supporting their livelihoods even while they batter against

the helplessness to find a better job. The result – both the employees and employers

are unhappy.

of 3


This is why institutions must collaborate with the industry and make an effort to identify

the need of the business today. Industry is just an enabler - institutions must play a

major role in designing a curriculum to make students "employable at all times".

Innovative measures such as internships, combined research and mutual development

of curriculum are crucial. With valuable inputs from the industry an appropriate

framework for a useful teaching methodology can be created. Training, Teaching and

Learning must be in sync with each other. Because, getting a job matters – but getting

the right job matters more.

of 3

bridging the skills gap - india context

Education