Are skills getting priority in our education system ?

Gaining academic qualification plus acquiring skill sets should be considered a part of the education system. While certificates make us gain employment, skills help us sustain in the career we have chosen. The education system needs to be reformed in such a way that a number of skills suitable for the younger generation should become part of the curriculum. Students have to be given options to pick up what they want. It will certainly help them to align with the core stream opted and also hone the skills simultaneously.

- Guntupu Sri Naga Sai Sushma, B.Tech graduate, Visakhapatnam

Our education system needs massive reforms. Most of the students are not able to get suitable jobs due to lack of proper job skills, knowledge and training after their studies are over. Many education institutions are running the colleges in commercial way and are least bothered about the students and their career. There should be co-ordination among the government departments, educational institutions, industry and skill development institutions. It is pitiful that the parents too don't have knowledge on what to do with the education system. After spending huge amounts of money for education, they are clueless with the degrees and diplomas awarded by the educational institutions.

- P Ramadevi, Vijayawada

Skill development is the need of the hour. It is crucial because employability rate is at its low. Thanks to The Hans India for creating a debate on the subject of skill development. This should awaken the rulers from slumber. Industry-university interface and partnership is a must. Governments should not snatch away CSR funds for their own agenda but in fact the funds should be spent on skill development. Government and industry should ponder over this. - Jeevaratnam, Advocate, Anantapur

Present education system is providing only bookish knowledge which will not help in improving practical knowledge . Education with skill-based curriculum will help in making the student to be suitable for the companies or industries. Traditional way of teaching on blackboard without giving practical knowledge will not make the students ready for jobs. So, every student should demand skill-based education right from Intermediate course.

- M Vamsi, Degree student, Abbanna Colony, Tirupati

In terms of the required talent pool, 70 per cent of India's venture capitalists surveyed indicated that start-ups are experiencing difficulties scaling due to challenges obtaining employees with the right skills. Of even greater concern is that, according to estimates from a recent employability survey, as many as 70-80 per cent of India's engineering graduates are reported to be functionally unemployable. It is in this Cobtext skill development plays a crucial role in ensuring employability. Hope CM Jagan Mohan Reddy will do something concrete in a couple of years. Indian executives' responses indicate the higher education sector falls short in meeting student, industry and societal needs. With only four per cent of India's population possessing vocational training, for example, compared to 96 per cent in Korea and as much as 22 percent in Botswana, Indian executives say the country's higher education system lags in providing broad access to education, transferring relevant knowledge to students and preparing students for lives as entrepreneurs.

- Gafoor Chandra, Senior Advocate, Anantapur