Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
ON
On
M.B.A PROGRAMME
(CHARUSAT)
Presented by
HARSH V. PATEL
M.B.A Semester – I
DECEMBER 2009
DECLARATION
I, HARSH V. PATEL hereby declare that the report on “Higher Education Reforms” is a
result of my own work and my indebtedness to other work publications, if any, have been
duly acknowledged.
Place: CHANGA
A significant portion of the world’s total youth population lives in India, which has 540
million people under the age of 25 and nearly 200 million between 15-25 years of
age. In recent years
(primarily after the liberalization of economy around 1991) the growth story of India
has been colored with the shade of a near-fantasy tale. Have you heard the
buzzwords with regard to India ‘burgeoning young middle-class population’,
‘booming IT sector’, or ‘vast pool of English speaking, science-educated skilled labor
force’ around your morning breakfast, launch recess, evening tea, and weekend
party? I am not surprised that you have. I just wonder whether you also have heard
about some lesser known facts which are summarized as following,
84.5 million (highest in the world) young people lives under ‘extreme poverty
line’ (less than US $1 per day) in India. That is 44.2 % of total youth
population. (Source: World Youth Report, 2003);
44 million of Indian youth is under-nourished (again, highest in the world)
which is 23% of the total youth population (Source: World Youth Report,
2003);
Gross enrollment percentage of youth in higher education is 7%, as
compared to 92% in US, 52% in UK, 45% in Japan, 11.1% in all Asia, even
10.3% in all developing countries (Agarwal, 2007);
Largest percentage of unemployed population in India is educated youth.
Most intriguingly, in stark contrast to the OECD countries, the share of
unemployment increases as the average educational level goes up (Agarwal,
2007);
Organized job sector is appallingly low at less than 5-6%. Almost 95% of
newly created jobs are still in unorganized sectors.
Educational reform
Number of unemployed people per 1000 for various age groups in India
For India, the issue of youth employment and associated educational reform
is highly critical because of her extremely diverse scenario of youth development.
This is a country, whose young scientists, technocrats, and business executives
demonstrate highest level of excellence and commitment in diverse professional
fields and command highest level of respect among peers and employers, all around
the world. This is also a country, where 84 million youths do not get sufficient food
for nutrition after a day’s hard work. But this diversity is at the essential core of this
nation. For more than four thousands years, this nation has progressed through
unimaginable diversity of language, culture, religion, caste, creed, and socio-
economic stratifications. She can handle this one too. World’s largest democracy is
still a treasure-trove of human resources. And, youth is unquestionably the lifeblood
of that society. Half a billion young people in this country aspire for a better living
standard, for quality education, healthcare, and family resources. Government,
lawmakers, politicians, industrial houses, social leaders have huge responsibility to
empower these youth for self-sustainability. It is a difficult task, but not impossible
one. Sincere analysis of the situation, honest policy formulation, rapid deployment,
and integrated effort can gift Indian youth a nation.
Reference
1. Agarwal, P., Higher education and the labor market in India, 2007.
3. Kapur, D., Mehta, P.B., “Indian higher education reform: from half-baked
socialism to half- baked capitalism”, Center for International Development
Working Paper, No. 103, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2004.
6. Shukla, R., India Science Report, National Council for Applied Economic
Research, 2006.