Essay

One of the weaknesses of Indian education system is that it does not gives due importance to vocational education. As a result there is a mismatch between the skilled manpower required and skilled manpower available. Every year, various colleges churn out millions of graduates who do not have the specific skill sets required by the market. This has resulted in a situation where on the one hand there are scores of unemployed graduates and on the other hand there is a huge shortage of skilled workers such as plumbers, electricians, etc.

To rectify this situation vocational training programs need to be promoted in a big way. This may include secretarial practices, computer operator and programme assistant, library assistant, architectural draughtsman ship, desktop publishing, electrical technician, electronics mechanic, refrigeration and air conditioning, plumbing, tailoring and dress making, hair and skin care, fruit and vegetable preservation programs, etc.

In fact, education is useless if it does not make people fit for a livelihood. While educational institutes have increased by leaps and bounds since Independence, many products of these institutes are found to be not even capable of earning a livelihood. This is the result of bad and haphazard planning on the part of the educationists. Educational institutions have failed to lay any stress on the quality of the education that they impart, or the subjects they teach. These institutes still follow the subjects of study introduced in our curriculum by the British rulers which have lost their significance for us today being free Indians. Hence, there is a bankruptcy of achievement by our educated children.

Besides a lop-sided curriculum, our primary education has been neglected which has led to a vacuum in the basic literacy standards. As a result colleges turn out plain and simple graduates and postgraduates who are absolutely unemployable when they come out of their colleges. Hence, instead of increasing...