In his lecture to the students and faculty of the Sacred Hearts College at Thevara in Kerala, where he also laid the foundation stone of a new block, the former Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh said that there was mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower in the country. It will be noted that as Prime Minister, he had, at several occasions, raised the question about unsatisfactory quality of education and research in our institutions of excellence. Even the President, Pranab Mukherjee, too, has been expressing his concerns about deteriorating standards of education and research and has been emphasizing that educationists must take serious note of this situation. One glaring reason of this phenomenon is undue and unwanted interference of political leaders in educational institutions where they want to politicize education and vitiate the minds of young students with party and antagonistic politics.
The situation, described by Dr. Manmohan Singh is that every year our educational and professional institutions turn out 4,00,000 technology graduates and 2.5 million general college graduates many of them unable to find jobs. But curious revelation that he made was that there was no shortage of jobs or funds but there was lack of requisite skills. In other words it means that the skills that are needed in the areas of modern technology are lacking among our young technocrats or skilled manpower. Therefore the need of the hour is that of proper education and educational facilities with adequate infrastructure. The young manpower available in the country is its biggest asset. 62 per cent of our population is in the working age group and nobody should underestimate its potential. Thus in next three decades there will be great demand for educational opportunities and expanding services. This scenario has to be taken into view while planning for the future of the country. Dr. Singh made pointed reference to another important aspect related to our skilled youth. He said that India was fast catching up with “knowledge sectors” of developed countries. As such India would acquire the potential for exporting knowledge through her vast young manpower provided the youth are equipped with the elements of advanced skills. This would certainly change the profile of Indian society.
We hope that our policy planners will take wise and matured opinion of elderly scholar and politician like Dr. Manmohan Singh into account and bring about reasonable reforms in our educational system. We in this country should not be able only to create jobs for skilled manpower but also think of exporting knowledge wherever it is required for the development of human resource.
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