Learning beyond the classroom syllabus and acquiring skills beyond technical knowledge have become the key to success in modern day jobs. An analysis from Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center stated that 85% of job successes result from soft skills that are not taught in the traditional theory-focused syllabi. Hard technical skills and subject knowledge account for only 15% of job successes. In 2019, LinkedIn published a Global Talent Trend report, where 80% of industry professionals emphasized the critical role of transferable soft skills for the success of a company. Moreover, 92% of these individuals expressed that soft skills can potentially transform the employability gap and are expected from candidates. Some of the highly desired employability skills in today’s job market are resourcefulness, strong communication, application-oriented creative thinking, collaboration, and a growth mindset.
Despite being the third largest education system in the world, India Skills Report (ISR) 2023 shows only 50.03% employability rate among Indian graduates and as a consequence, students are well short of securing a position in the global job market. The missing link for such a deteriorating trend is the failure to deconstruct formal classroom education and connect it with desired employability skills. The traditional classroom setup overlooks this aspect of students’ learning and development, and lacks the necessary update in the infrastructure. One of the issues lies in the theory and degree-focused learning through memorization without any critical thinking and problem-solving aptitudes. A long-term practice of this model has made a huge dent in the overall growth of the students and most importantly to their employability. It is also evident that students are often unable to utilize the lessons they learned in the syllabus and textbooks. This lack of application-oriented mindset is a result of the current infrastructure that seldom allows students to think beyond the syllabus and overlooks the crucial aspect of students' growth.
Another reason for this skill gap is inequality in accessing modern education. The private schools often provide world-class education and training. Moreover, the number of expensive private schools is increasing with a consequential enrollment surge. Nonetheless, students residing in the cities often have better access to modern education and technology. In contrast, the public schools lack the required settings, syllabi, and most importantly the funding. As a result, a substantial fraction of students from low-income households are still deprived of modern education. Strikingly, students from rural areas and remote villages lack the modern technologies and mentoring due to several parameters including (but not limited to) resources, transportation, and economical background. This implies that the unemployment rate in rural India is currently at the tip of the iceberg, and it may likely cause a downfall in terms of the students not getting jobs from rural India, who comprise a significant amount of workforce in a variety of fields. In fact, a recent report showcased that 83% of schools in India are in rural areas and 86% of the labor force are not graduates. Such correlation represents a significant opportunity for improvement and requires immediate attention.
While the Indian economy, technological growth, and workforce are on the rise more than ever, organizations, experienced professionals, and investors should serve from the front to bolster the modernization thrust in the Indian education system. Therefore, we need to strive for developing a mindset of learning and reinventing ourselves daily to keep abreast of modern skills. If this mindset is instilled among students at an early age, it can ignite the younger minds with creative thinking and innovation.
Dhi-e foundation – a non-profit organization led by IITians, expert educators and scientists from across the globe – aims to train students with modern skills while reaching every corner of the country. The goal of this organization is to create a strong foundation for school students by infusing a competitive culture of critical thinking, problem-solving, effective English communication, and necessary computer skills at a very early stage. Expert instructors have designed courses that are “breaking the boundaries of syllabus” and preparing students with job-relevant skills through online coaching as well as via locally established classrooms. Using an advanced mode of learning with a rigorous curriculum, Dhi-e foundation aims to create awareness and teach essential soft skills beyond textbooks to underprivileged students across the country, thereby empowering them for success and advancing equality in education.
Contributed by: Tufan K Mukhopadhyay
Published by: Dhi-e Foundation (www.dhi-e.org)
Edited by: Somnath Biswas
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