Govt. Considering Introduction of “Professional” UG Courses While Unemployed Graduates Keep looking for Jobs

The central government is considering the introduction of B.A. (Professional), B.Sc. (Professional) and B.Com. (Professional) in Indian Universities, Minister of State (MoS) Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Upendra Kushwaha told Lok Sabha in a written reply. Admittedly, this is a move “to enhance the employability of graduate courses offered in the country”. Although, no other information has been provided as of now.

A few questions of fundamental importance arise here. Why aren’t students getting jobs after getting bachelors’ degrees in existing courses? Will the introduction of new ‘professional’ courses address the increasing unemployment rate of graduates in India? And finally, is this government serious about providing dignified jobs to its youth that constitutes the historic “demographic dividend”?

Read more: Jobless Numbers Continue to Grow but Govt. Remains Unconcerned

If one looks at the past four years’ experience of this government, the data on the rate of unemployment, especially amongst the youth (however scarce or fudged the data may be), along with the enrolment of students in different graduate-level courses, it becomes clear that the government has no answers to these fundamental questions, and they aren’t even remotely serious about fulfilling their own election-time promises, or chunavi jumlas.

The All India Survey on Higher education (AISHE) report for the year 2017-18, released on July 27, 2018, gives the trends in student enrolment in various undergraduate courses. For example:

Enrolment in B.A. increased from 90,99,473 in 2013-14 to 92,99,437 in 2017-18 (peaked to 98,60,520 in 2014-15);

Enrolment in B.Sc. drastically increased from 35,79,526 in 2013-14 to 51,38,250 in 2017-18;

Enrolment in B.Com. increased from 31,17,265 in 2013-14 to 35,48,572 in 2017-18;

However, Enrolment in B.Tech./B.E. significantly decreased from 43,36,149 in 2014-14 to 39,40,080 in 2017-18;

Enrolment in B.C.A. marginally increased from 4,21,191 in 2013-14 to 4,32,382 in 2017-18;

Enrolment in various other professional course like B.B.A., L.L.B., B.Pharm., B.Sc. (Nursing) and M.B.B.S. has increased significantly between 2013-14 and 2017-18.

Read more: Modi and His Claims: 'Govt has Created Jobs but We don't have Data to Prove It'

The vast decrease in student enrolment in undergraduate engineering courses is not surprising, as it is well known that engineering graduates are not getting their level-appropriate jobs. This is also evident from various news reports about B.Tech., M.Tech. and even Ph.D. students applying for jobs as peons in government offices and as low-grade employees in the railways. As reportedin Newsclick, earlier this year, the Indian Railways had advertised 1 lakh vacancies, for which around 2 crore youth applied, that’s 200 people competing over 1 post!

The overall increase in enrolment, in both general and professional degree courses, need to be looked at in the context of the lack of adequate job creation since the past few years. A reportin Times of Indiahad stated that while there were about 31 million (3.1 crore) unemployed youth in India as of February (this year), the number of job creation in 2018 would be limited to an estimated 6 lakh. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), in the year 2017, estimated the number of new jobs created at just 20 lakhs – a mere 0.5 per cent of the job seekers. About 13 lakh people join the labour force every month in India, that’s about 1.56 crore every year.

According to this year’s AISHE report, the total enrolment in “Major Disciplines/Subjects”, in regular mode, alone is 2,84,41,310 i.e. 2.84 crores! Therefore, rather than “considering” the introduction of B.A.(professional), B.Sc.(professional) and B.Com.(professional), the government should give the already graduating students dignified jobs. They can start by filling the over 4 lakh posts lying vacant with the central government itself.

Read more: Jobs – The Govt.’s Tangled Web