A child has been told since his/her childhood to work hard and study to get a good job which suggests the ultimate goal of overall education is to get employed. But what if he receives a good education from a premium institution in the country and still struggles to earn money? Educational trends always relate to the socio-economic condition of the country. In the past, when technology and science were not well-developed, people would chase government services. When these fields achieved certain milestones and grew significantly, the trend reversed and parents urged their children to become doctors and engineers.
Today, India has become the world's biggest populator and is growing as a sizeable market, especially in the services sector. The country is still witnessing the trend where the academic stream is inclined towards Science/Commerce, while a small portion of students choosing the humanities side are either left clueless or unemployed.
The current condition of the job market and traditional mindset also points to the insecurity that comes with private jobs among students that leads them to prepare for civil services and other government exams. For these exams, they have to go through SST books.
This raises the question: If exams place such heavy emphasis on social science subjects, why do students from the humanities stream face limited employability opportunities?
The Major Cause
At the end of July, three civil service aspirants drowned in the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar, the incident indicated towards intense crowd cluster of students and people creating businesses out of their aspirations. According to recent data, the final number of candidates appointed into service is a fraction of the original number of candidates who apply to take the civil services exam. One of the most evident reasons behind this is the lack of work scope in the humanities field. This does not mean that engineers/doctors are not aspiring for the civil service. Yet, the majority of students continue to be drawn from the humanities stream.
As per the data and trends, students who choose the humanities stream in higher secondary school and undergraduate level mostly go for the teaching profession, do professional courses like MBA or eventually choose other professional careers that are completely different from the course they selected in their undergraduate school.
If a student pursues a Bachelor's degree in History but later shifts away from the field due to a lack of relevant opportunities to apply the knowledge gained during their studies, they may find themselves seeking work in unrelated areas. This points to the education system's inability to explore market types and generate similar demand.
Dr. Manvender Singh, HOD of the History, and Public Administration Department, at LPU University, believes that the stereotypical perception of humanities as an ‘unpractical’ field is rooted in the present society as people tend to view STEM disciplines as more profitable and relevant to employment. “In addition, there is a lack of structured internship programs and practical exposure during the course tenure, which limits the development of employability skills among humanities graduates," he said.
Singh also added that compared to traditional sectors of employment like teaching or research, there are limited job opportunities and most students are not even aware of the new-age careers in freelance writing, communications, law, psychology, designing, or social services, which makes them consider the employability scope negligible.
In order to solve this problem, policymakers have to make the new disruption to explore the businesses and work opportunities for humanities students, ultimately benefiting the overall art stream.
The Other Way-outs
Being a dynamic sector, immense policies have been made in the education industry for students' welfare and the country's growth as a whole. The policymakers and other empowered stakeholders need to dig into the possibilities to employ these students.
Shedding light on its optimistic side, Prabhat Pankaj, Director of Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur, said, “I strongly feel that there is plenty of scope available for students in humanities and liberal arts. Apart from civil services and office jobs in government, students can look for mass communication, academics, public policy independent agencies and NGOs (e.g. Oxfam, CUTS etc), international bodies such as World Bank, IMF, UNICEF, UNCTAD etc, psychologists, historians, archaeologist, art director, copywriter, judicial services, political analyst and many more.”
Some experts also believe that there are jobs available related to these social science subjects but they are not as fulfilling as the professional courses.
Mindset & Money
In India, parents always push their children for brighter professions that return their invested money in education and provide fame too.
The emerging trend of students pursuing medical/engineering and UPSC is an outcome of the same mindset.
This ‘settled’ mindset can be transformed at the fundamental school level.
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) strived to change this perception about a particular stream with its multidisciplinary provision. After this provision, a child can have a combination of subjects from different streams i.e., History with Maths, Accounts with Political Science.
Devyani Jaipuria, Pro Vice Chairperson DPS Gurgaon, DPS Jaipur, DPS International, said, “The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 champions a multidisciplinary approach to education, enhancing employability through a flexible curriculum that integrates various disciplines. In implementing NEP 2020 for humanities students, schools play a pivotal role. They can offer creative combinations of subjects in senior school, fostering intellectual, emotional, and moral growth.”
India is known for its diversity and resilience, and the transformative times we are witnessing are reshaping the nation in many ways. With the advantage of having the world’s youngest population, the country is expected to lead in the journey of development globally. Restriction on the youth’s employability is not a good sign and should be a major concern of policymakers.
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