"In 2018-19, only 65 out of 100 young adults (aged 20-29 years) with a college degree who were looking for work found jobs. In contrast, among young adults with less than a degree-level education, 90 out of 100 who were keen to work found it, according to our estimates based on the Periodic Labour Survey data," wrote Prof Vidya Mahambare & Soumya Dhanraj. They found that people with higher degrees earned more than those with lower levels of education. However, the higher level of unemployment among educated youth maybe because of poor quality of education. "The skills report 2019 suggests that only 47% of youth in India with a college education are employable." Other benefits include, "Education tends to improve decision-making on crucial life options." "In India, while the effects of the pandemic on the educational sector have been severe, especially for municipal and under-resourced schools, we must acknowledge that our system was failing the majority of children even before covid," wrote Anu Aga, Vijay Kelkar & Raghunath Mashelkar. "Over 50 million of our primary school children were not attaining foundational literacy and numeracy (MHRD). More than 46% if students in grade 8 could not read and understand short text; 62% could not use basic math to solve daily life problems (NEP, 2020) and only 26% of students who started school actually made it to college." " A study by Azim Premji University on online education in government schools in five states has shown that the mode of learning has been ineffective," Economic Times (ET). "Besides, more than 60% children were unable to access online education tools because of a lack of or inadequate number of smartphones and difficulty in using apps." Some teachers have found ways to overcome Covid lockdowns. "In a small tribal village on the eastern tip of India, an enterprising teacher has turned walls into blackboards and roads into classrooms, trying to close the gap in learning brought on by prolonged school shutdowns in the country," Indian Express (TIE). "Deep Narayan Nayak, 34, a teacher in the tribal village of Joba Attpara in Paschim Bardhaman district of the eastern state of West Bengal, has painted blackboards on the walls of houses and taught children on the streets for the past year." "Except for the Primary level of education, all other levels are far from attaining a 100% enrolment ratio." The data show that "28% of students dropped out while moving from secondary (Grades 9 and 10) to higher secondary level and 8% between elementary and secondary level." The latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) showed, "After a year-and-a-half of Covid-enforced school closures come findings that confirm the worst fears: reading and numeracy skills among children have taken a big hit, especially among students in primary classes," (TIE). "Another serious issue for the parents and children was the discontinuation of of the midday meal in government schools. This meal served as an incentive for children from under privileged backgrounds to attend school, and also ensured that they ate a nutritious meal," The Wire. "From Wall Street, the view of technology-assisted learning in India looks very different. As China cracks down on private education, India is witnessing a surge of interest, with an estimated $4 billion flowing into the industry over the last 18 months. Byju's, a startup valued at $16.5 billion, is in early discussions about an initial public offer," Business Standard. According to a report by RedSeer, 1.8 million Indian students will be studying abroad by 2024 at a cost of $75-85 billion," ET. Studying abroad is a route to employment and permanent residence in the host country. In the US, 800,000 people, of whom 60% were Indians, were waiting for a green card which allows permanent residence, ET. Meanwhile, the IT industry in India is unable to find enough trained people to fill its vacancies, ET. Fewer jobs for the educated, fewer educated for jobs. Those who can, escape.
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