In today's India, the promise of an 18-year formal education—spanning from kindergarten through to a university degree—often ends not in employment, but in uncertainty. According to CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey, the unemployment rate in India climbed to 8.1% in April 2024, up from 7.4% in March. Alarmingly, this increase was observed across both urban and rural sectors, with rural unemployment rising from 7.1% to 7.8% and urban unemployment ticking up from 8.1% to 8.7%. This growing gap between education and employability is triggering a deep-rooted national concern.
In response to this employability crisis, skill development programs have mushroomed across the country. These programs, varying from short-term crash courses to year-long certifications, aim to equip students with industry-specific skills. Ironically, many of these skills are not taught in the formal education system. From digital marketing to coding bootcamps and vocational trades, these institutes have become a parallel educational track. However, this dual-system model highlights a serious imbalance. While the government continues to pump massive funds into formal education, much of it fails to yield job-ready graduates.
Formal education, ideally, is meant to cultivate critical thinking, innovation, and research. It lays the groundwork for societal advancement, enabling students to become thinkers, scientists, and changemakers. In contrast, skill development is largely about adaptability—training individuals to use pre-existing tools and processes efficiently. It prepares the workforce to fit into roles within systems already developed by others. While both are necessary, India appears to be leaning too heavily toward the latter.
A worrying cultural shift has taken place: skill-based competence is now more sought after than conceptual knowledge or intellectual depth. This skew, if not addressed, could have long-term economic and developmental consequences. Our obsession with "employability" has marginalized the value of academic learning. Consequently, many startups and companies in India struggle to scale or innovate because their workforce lacks foundational knowledge in their fields.
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has only complicated matters. As automation grows, the demand for manual, repetitive skills is shrinking. While India has long been a labor- and skill-driven economy, AI is disrupting this dependency, putting millions of jobs at risk. Upskilling and reskilling are crucial, but they must be rooted in a robust academic base to be effective in the long term.
One of the core issues is that the Indian education system is still largely theoretical. Despite the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, most schools remain glued to the outdated practice of rote learning and grade obsession. For instance, many private schools in Delhi-NCR still refuse students admission to the science stream if they score below 80% in their 10th-grade exams. This rigid percentage-based filter perpetuates academic elitism and undermines holistic development.
Take the case of a student who scored below 60% in his 2024 CBSE board exams. His school in New Delhi, Mayo International, denied him the opportunity to choose his preferred subjects. Even after exploring alternatives, he couldn’t secure admission elsewhere. In India, education is no longer a right for all—it has become a privilege for the academically elite.
The problem intensifies when we examine the corporate hiring process. Job descriptions for even entry-level positions often read like political manifestos—overly ambitious and unrealistic. Employers seek candidates who are authors, engineers, analysts, designers, and public speakers, all in one. The mantra seems to be "Jack of all trades, master of none." This unrealistic demand creates a bottleneck where even highly educated individuals find themselves unqualified.
Today, if you want to get a job, a master’s degree is almost non-negotiable. If you want to start a business, versatility trumps specialization. This misalignment between industry needs and academic offerings is why India's manufacturing sector lags, while the service sector thrives. Our economy celebrates multitaskers over deep thinkers, short-term skills over long-term vision.
In conclusion, the debate between formal education and skill development shouldn’t be framed as a rivalry. Instead, we need integration. Education must evolve beyond theory, and skill programs must include conceptual depth. Only then can we bridge the gap between degrees and jobs, and between aspirations and reality. Reforming our approach today is the only way to secure a future where education and employability walk hand-in-hand.