Over half of Indian students will not have skills for 21st century jobs, warns UNICEF

UNICEF head Henrietta H Fore has warned that by the year 2030, half of South Asian youth will not be able to find a decent job for the lack of skills. She added that in India, as many as 53% will leave secondary school without getting skills needed for a decent job, reports Business Insider India.

“Every day, nearly 100,000 young South Asians – a large sports stadium of young people – enter the labour market, almost half of them are not on track to find 21st century jobs. South Asia is at a critical juncture, with a limited window during which it can reap significant demographic dividends from its talented and capable youth,” said Fore.

According to her, skills of its youth will define the economic status of a country. “Get it right, and millions could be lifted out of poverty. Fail to do so, and economic growth will falter, youth despair will rise, and further talent will be lost to other regions,” she warns.

In another interview carried by website Deutsche Welle, she gave her opinion about the Indian government’s initiative to train and upskill over 400 million people.

“Both Skill India and Startup India are good initiatives. But they are just a beginning. India is on the right track by trying to reform its education system and lay emphasis on imparting skills. Young people are facing a lot of anxiety and disappointment, particularly when it comes to what they're learning in school. We need to change that. Many of them also face problems with job search. So we need to reach every young person and help them with career counselling and finding jobs,” she said.

It may be recalled that the new world university rankings, released in September, too came as a disappointment for India with no university featured in the top 300 for the first time since 2012, though the total number of entries from the country went up from 49 in 2018 to 56 this year.

The high point for India was Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar making it to the top 350 on debut in the list. It now is the joint Indian topper with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.