Why Indians Lack Employability

As per several reports from aspiring minds and many other agencies, 80% of engineering graduates are not employable and 97% of them lack English communication skills. It is an undeniable fact that an educated population is essential to a nation’s prosperity but here my focus is on education that is current and relevant. If we teach our graduates skills that are outdated and no longer required by the industry then what is the use of such education? Many of the students come from poor families where their parents take huge loans for their childrens’ education, and what all the students get is a piece of paper with skills and knowledge that no one wants.

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I have lived my life in various parts of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal during my academic days ranging from Roorkee, Saharanpur, Kanpur, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Noida, Solan to name a few. I have changed lot of schools due to family circumstances and have seen almost the same situation everywhere.

Employability is one of the key aspects for a successful nation. If our youth is not employable and lacks current industry skills then they are bound to take wrong paths. We need to understand that all human beings are same, it's our education system that can help us achieve the goals of our lives. Unemployability is a global problem, stretching from USA to Europe and everywhere in between. It matters because this would soon become a big problem. Unemployed people are more likely to be poor, they can't get educated, can't participate in political activities or help with economic development; and sadly their choices in life are far too limited. It affects millions of people worldwide and in turn has an impact on global development. Although it is largely an invisible issue, the repercussions of this can be seen in everyday struggles of the youth of our country depriving them of basic civil rights.

Apart from Technical Knowledge, it is no mystery that good English communication regularly tops the list of skills required by employers. English is the dominant business language and it has become almost a necessity for people to speak English if they are to enter a global workforce. Good communication skill is the key differentiator in today's job market. Not necessarily English, but you may want to learn as many languages as you can. While it will enrich you with the necessary confidence required to take up new activities, settle in newer locations; it will also ensure that you are able to present your point well when you have new ideas. No matter how good your proposal is, if you can't communicate and explain your idea no one cares.

Now why Indian graduates lack relevant technical and communication skills? The answer is simple. It’s our education system. I did my B Tech in Electrical Engineering and of the 4 years, 8 semesters, 64 subjects, we had only one subject known as professional communication in 1st semester. That's all! Hence students from small locations and non-English medium schools found it difficult to comprehend the books and failed to deliver good results during campus placements and off campus interviews. Many times I have noticed that the book explanation was something different and they comprehend something else thinking they knew about the topic but then failed in exams terribly. It was sad and disheartening to see my hardworking, passionate friends struggling to find a job and fulfill their family responsibilities.

Its high time our Education curriculum initiates a change, and while it is researching and figuring out the process of implementation, a short term approach should be introduced by colleges to plug the gap between extracurricular courses and foundational skills like English, logical ability etc.

Although the problem is far more pronounced in the tier 2 and tier 3 colleges, instilling spoken English skills is a big challenge in IITs and NITs as well. The world is changing at a rapid pace with new technological innovations happening on an almost daily basis. However over the years, the focus in the education system has been confined just to Chemistry, Maths, and Physics. Focus on soft skills and relevant technical skills have rather been ignored. Also one need not mention that now even government jobs require fluency in English in India. Therefore, a person’s socioeconomic status in Indian society is also governed with his or her fluency in the language.

Although I know it’s a huge task to change the situation and there is no magic stick for the same, I always wanted to change the whole world but I also realized that we can only achieve one thing at a time. I have always been strong in my resolution firmly planted in my roots and guided by my sense of justice. I have never ever made a decision based on misconceptions. Being a postgraduate and a successful infoprenuer, I have always studied everything on my own chose between the wrong and right kept myself aligned with my values and my ideas.

I used to hear lots of stories from people around about how private computer centers are misusing the plight of passed out graduates (who are already struggling to find an option to clear their educational loans) and charging high fees by showing false dreams of good knowledge and guaranteed placement assistance. Unfortunately these so called “shops” are flourishing in each and every corner of our country.

It’s been more than 10 years now since I passed college yet the situation is still the same. After discussing with a couple of friends I was left more haunted and concerned. This feeling finally prompted me to start something that can help and improve the situation.

I knew from reports that English is a problem and not knowing the language deprives students from comprehending texts and in turn limits their technical skills too. “Project Hindi” was born at this juncture with the motive to teach students industry relevant technical courses for free. In the initial days it was not easy. I am an online Entrepreneur and was working professionally on many things back then. It was hard for me to remain consistent in devoting time to this new initiative. Although I was struggling to make the tutorials all by myself, I knew deep inside that Project Hindi would impact lives of millions of students by enhancing their skills and improving their knowledge.

Since the inception of project Hindi, students from all over the world have been appreciating the initiative a lot. I have been receiving huge amount of requests for new courses. Project Hindi is not only impacting the lives of students in India but also in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, USA and several others.

It is really overwhelming. It provides me great happiness to read messages like – "I have been in IT industry for 10 years now but haven't seen a course so good."

Project Hindi is the first free platform of its nature, solely dedicated to providing education and coursework on employability skills in demand in India. It’s my goal to close the loophole between vacant jobs, and hard-working individuals without the skillsets necessary to excel. Lessons are designed to be learning friendly and are broken down into bit sizes, conducive to successful absorption processes. The website also provides courses for preparing the candidate for a job interview, achieving success and dreams in life along with tutorials on creating a great CV.

It feels great and overwhelming to wake up daily reading such beautiful and inspirational messages from students all over the world. I just can’t thank God enough.

Manoj Kumar

I am working as UI Designer/UI Developer from the last 8 year but didn't found such nice course especially in Hindi. I was lacking in lot of programming language just because of English accent video but now I am sure I'll be learn everything from you whatever I want to learn :-)?

Peter King

I live in Canada and I am myself a programmer with fair bit of experience working with angularjs as well. But just like to watch your videos because of the way you teach and explain core concepts. It’s not because of the language for me; but because of your nice and clear explanations showing that you really want to make sure that everyone should understand it completely. Keep it up my bro... :)?

Hope I would be able to add value to lives of maximum people I can. There are many new courses under development, some of my students have also shown interest to help me with courses. The best part is people are liking the way things have been taught. If you have any suggestion for next course topic please feel free to write back to us.

Signup for the website here: http://projecthindi.com/