Are Marks Outdated? How India's Education Revolution is Prioritizing Skills !
Understanding the Indian Educational system
( Total read time: 3 minutes)
Abhinay Krishna & Jithin J
February 12, 2024
As we embark on this inaugural newsletter journey, let's delve into a topic close to many of us: education.
Starting from my initial days, from school to completing my Bachelor’s in new months, I have always been listening to a common myth or a lie that your marks define your future, and without marks, you won’t find a good paying job, or do something big in your life . Well, it doesn’t make any sense at all, for what I have observed and seen your skills and your ability to think and perform make you a fortune rather than an educational degree. I believe your degree or your marks haven’t got a direct correlation to your level of expertise on a subject nor does it indicate your ability to fit into a company work culture, then obviously the next question is why are people paying so much for a college degree that it not as worth as some people think it is? who is to blame?
According to me, I think the answer is simple it’s a chain of improper management throughout the country, universities and colleges still following the old un-updated curriculum, and teachers teaching students about IC engines in the era of EVs won’t of any use to the student or the industry. Secondly, I believe hands-on practical experiences should be given the most priority followed by theory, for example, mechanical engineering students should be taught how to make an actual car, the tech that goes onto it, the practical working of how all these parts together make a car move. This would invoke curiosity in the young engineers and make them creative. If they are supported by their respective colleges and universities to spend more time on a garage, design, and R&D labs rather than listening to classroom lectures, this could pave the way for new inventions and innovations in the field of engineering. The advantage of this approach is students would understand their subjects better and get a real-life experience of what to experience in a real industry before even leaving college, Students now would understand their topics better and stay focused, and most importantly it creates a huge scope for innovation to happen, for a fact that with the nation so big and of which majority of popularity being young how much innovation could be derived out of this which could prove to be a game changer for the Indian Economy. For this to happen the entire administration starting from top to bottom has to change and I hope the government takes immediate action regarding this.
The entire marks-based system where students are made to memorize and vomit on the paper culture needs to be removed completely and for this to happen a big change is required. I am sure changing the entire system would be difficult but if done right it could change the course of a nation and mankind by a huge margin.
Change won't be easy, but it's essential for the future of our nation and the world.
To understand it better let’s dive into our
Case study :
The situation of India in 2021-22
In 2021-22 India’s employable youth stood at 55%, according to a few sources. For India, this was a huge blow to its economy as youth consists of a major portion of the Indian population. In simple terms, more the unemployment, the lesser the nation’s growth rate, and it’s one of the many reasons why India, had a GDP growth rate of a record low of -5.80 percent in 2021.
From this it is clearly visible the situation of Indian graduates during 2021-22, and why was it?
was it because students got lazy and stopped grasping knowledge during lockdown or was it because they weren’t taught what was required for the industry?
Well as it turns out the major culprit here is the wide gap that exists between industry requirements and college curriculum. The second problem we noticed was that India’s education system was the overemphasis on Marks based system. Marks used to be given the value more compared to skill development and value addition and as a result, a major chunk of youth remains unemployable. Another important thing to be highlighted is the majority of the funds allocated to education are taken only by IITs and IIM’s as a result the central and state universities are not even given the privilege of working with the latest tech, high-tech labs, funds for projects nor are they provided with proper infrastructure. The fun thing is that students in IITs, IIMs, NITs have just 3% of total students but get 50% of government funds so what about the rest 97% ? Such improper allocation of resources and such a wide gap in education curriculum are the top reasons India has been a developing country for such a long time now.
The current situation
Some of the reasons for this change include:
Programs for youth skill development, whether run by the government or the private sector, have started producing desired outcomes.
Emphasis on apprenticeships and vocational training has been preparing students for direct entry into the workforce.
Initiatives to promote digital literacy is helping graduates become more adaptable in the ever-changing labor market.
Companies moving to a no-degree setup where they value skills more than degrees or marks.
Companies value skilled individuals to meet their requirements as they believe a skilled employee can add more value to the company than a college graduate with no skills .
Skills » Degree
• Companies, especially those in tech, have been trying upskilling, reskilling, and quicker background checks to get enough of the talent they need amid labor challenges.
• Now they're trying something else requiring no college degrees.
• In place of four-year-degrees many companies are instead focusing on skills-based hiring to widen the talent pool.
Giants like Google, IBM, Dell, and Accenture have revised for recruitment in their US branches while for Indian branches no such action has been taken yet, hopefully, they will revise the terms for the Indian ecosystem too so that skill-based education system would be given a push and create a wave of path for the newer startups to follow .
Conclusion
In conclusion, India's educational system is going through a radical shift as it moves away from a marks-centric approach and toward one that places more emphasis on skill development and real-world experience.
]The nation's advancement has long been impeded by the antiquated curriculum and insufficient resource allocation, which has left a sizable percentage of young people unemployed. Nonetheless, the employable youth growth rate has reached a record high, indicating that recent measures centered on skill development, vocational training, and digital literacy are starting to show favorable benefits. This trend is being further accelerated by the way businesses are starting to value talents more than degrees.
Even if the entire education system still has to be redesigned, these advancements give optimism for a better future in which skill and creativity will propel India's economic growth and prosperity .