Shrinking opportunities.

Kota, in Rajasthan, "The coaching capital of India seems to have lost its mojo in the last few years." "A spate of student suicides have dealt an additional blow, ending the city's dream run as the coaching capital in the country." With that, the support ecosystem has also suffered. "Gone are the lanes teeming with students in coaching center uniforms, the packed restaurants serving burgers, vadas and omelettes, and the 'no vacancy' signs at paying guest (PG) accommodations in coveted neighborhoods." India Today. Coaching for higher education institutions comes after secondary school and private schools are becoming too expensive for middle class parents. Total expense for schooling one child is now in excess of Rs 400,000 per year, which would almost equal one parents salary. India Today. However, what other option is there? "As many as 43% of India's schoolchildren in Class VI can't grasp main ideas in texts, and a staggering 63% of Class IX students fail to spot simple patterns in numbers or understand basic numerical sets like fractions and integers, the ministry of education's PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan has revealed." There is wide variation between states, as well as rural-urban and gender-based variation. TOI. In states like Jharkhand, "nearly one in three government primary schools there is run by a single teacher." In some states, "these schools are tucked away in remote tribal villages or Dalit hamlets -- places that need education the most." India Today. Without school education children cannot aspire to higher education. But here also, "Close to 60% of India's 34mn students enrolled in undergraduate courses may end up in jobs unrelated to what they study in college or university. That's nearly 20mn studying subjects irrelevant to their future," wrote Prof Binay Panda. There are not enough quality jobs to absorb youth who are qualified. "Out of the about 900 million people in the working-age population,..only about 330 million of the 610 million workforce were engaged in non-farm sector jobs in 2023-24." "About 28 million unemployed educated youth are looking for decent jobs, and about 100 million educated youth (mostly women) are not actively looking for employment," wrote Prof Santosh Mehrotra. Poor education and lack of jobs forces Indians to migrate, often illegally, to countries offering a higher standard of living. There are at least 725,000 Indians living illegally in the US who are in danger of being deported. TOI. Canada is also clamping down on Indians. "In recent months, many Indian migrants in Canada have found themselves in a troubling situation: there work permits and expiring, and renewals are delayed, leaving them unable to work or access essential services." ET. "Across India Punjabis are infamous for their desire to migrate abroad, especially to Canada." They have to prove proficiency in English by passing the IELTS exam. In 2023, 1.4-1.5 million students took the exam but "the number dropped drastically to 200,000-300,000 in 2024. As IELTS and visa centers have shut down it has affected the economy of Punjab. Mint. No jobs, can't go abroad. Can't even be illegal. All irrelevant.