Repairing the Education-to-Employment Pipeline

Repairing the Education-to-Employment Pipeline

- Anil Nagar

India's demographic dividend is often spoken of with optimism, but that optimism is conditional. With more than 65% of the population under the age of 35, our young workforce could be the engine that powers growth for decades. But for that to happen, we must confront a structural truth—i.e., our education-to-employment journey is broken.

Young people from small towns are aspirational. But they lack clarity about what job roles exist, what paths lead to them, and how to prepare for them. A recent Employment Report noted that 83% of India's unemployed youth are educated, with the number higher in smaller towns.

Students from small towns make education choices without adequate exposure and real-world guidance. Internships are scarce, and awareness of roles in emerging fields like AI, coding, fintech, and digital banking is limited.

Remember the BPO boom that employed 4 million Indians?

We stand at the cusp of a similar employment wave—in tech and BFSI, where demand for digitally-skilled talent is accelerating.

Employability should be the metric, not education