A quick look at the issue of skills gap in the Indian context

1. 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.
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2. Bridging the Skills Gap - India Context
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
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.
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3. Bridging the Skills Gap - India Context
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.
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