A Dichotomous Conundrum

Many great persons have expressed their views in the past that India has a strange situation prevailing which potentially impacts the economic & social fabric of the nation.That is the challenge we face from “unemployability” of many our graduates/degree-holders, perhaps is a bigger issue than “unemployment” for a developing nation.

If one looks at this aspect of “unemployability” that is plaguing our country, it seems like there is a dichotomy at play, perhaps leading to a conundrum. On one side we have a large number of engineering colleges, universities and other educational institutions that roll-out lakhs of graduates year after year. Many amongst these graduates are “educated/qualified” and hold valid ‘degrees/certificates’ having passed the requisite exams, but not skilled (enough) to start being productive when employed. Well, the academic circle (enrolment to graduation), seems to have completed its path with the input-output process – students attending classes to undergo the learning of various principles, processes, methods and practices to successfully completing it to the satisfaction of the evaluators/administrators, who conduct the examinations/award degrees. With this done & dusted, all the students who ‘graduated’ become eligible to join the workforce and get employment in the industries/companies of their choice. Campus hiring ushers in the placement in various companies and a new journey of work and career begins for these graduates. Yes, in theoretical viewpoints, but practical life seems to have a different take. The reality is different, as it does not happen for all graduates and that is the one side of the dichotomy. Having education / qualifications seems to be starkly different from possessing skills to do work as required by the industry for productive employment.

The other side (of this dichotomy) lies the world of ’employment’. Lack of suitable employment opportunities, gets referred to as “unemployment”. This is an economic & social issue that causes significant challenges to the economy and the social fabric of the country. Lack of work leads to poverty and impoverishment across various sectors and contributes to crime and cultural degradation. Ill-afforded by any country and society at large. Well, such ‘unemployment’ conditions occur when many companies do not need to employ people for their work or companies do not grow sufficiently enough to increase their workforce. But, the moot question is – what if there are enough ‘open’ jobs or posts that are vacant and not filled because sufficiently skilled persons are not available in the market? The conundrum occurs when there are enough people available in the market who apply to all such open positions or vacancies, but the employer(s) find them having inadequate skills or competencies and hence do not ‘risk’ employing such persons. This is referred to as “Unemployability”, where the dichotomous conundrum attains a peak position. It’s akin to being at sea, surrounded by water, however the thirst is not quenched – ‘Water water everywhere, not a drop a drink’. Hence there is a need to resolve this situation through innovative and courageous solutions to ensure “unemployability” does not lead to an “unemployment” crisis, an avoidable man-made disaster at best.

SkillForce wants to be the “Change Agent” and the “Catalyst” for enabling graduates with adequate skills such that the challenge of “unemployability” is mitigated. The industry and academic circles are motivated to function and grow in size and quality. A contribution to the nation building process is the way we see it at SkillForce.