Unemployability - bigger issue than unemployment

The recent survey conducted by Rajiv Gandhi Centre of Contemporary Studies and the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra are shocking to say the least. Shocking as in a “knowing” kind of a shock, where we finally see evidence for what we already knew.

The survey covered 32 colleges across Mumbai and Thane, assessing 6,111 students for various skills. And it was found that 51% of the students  lacked verbal reasoning, comprehension and lateral thinking, all essential qualities for recruitment. Average Employability Quotient of Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Science (IT)  was a mere 2/10. Employability Quotient (EQ) gauges students' preparedness for professional life. Engineers managed to score an EQ of just about 3/10.  The average EQ measured across all courses offered by MU was at 5/10. And only 16.22% of those surveyed adequately equipped to seek employment.

The weakest skill – verbal communication and English language. Students apparently struggle to talk fluently and verbal skills were basic, not enough to articulate even what they were thinking. Shockingly, neither the students nor the professors at colleges seem to be worried about this. They felt these were “small” things.

This reiterates  what FICCI had said in 2012 – Indian youth is indeed unemployable when it comes to skill development and it had rated the difficulty in filling up jobs in India at 48% v/s global standard of 34%. The World Economic Forum had also presented a study and said that only 25% of the total Indian professionals are considered employable by the organised sector.

Maybe its time to overhaul our archaic ways of learning – rote and retention is given preference over creative thinking and an almost non-existent student-professor engagement in colleges.