In the IT sector, India has an employable workforce of only 17.54 per cent. This was revealed in a report released by HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Friday. The National Employability Report 2011 of engineering graduates was prepared by Aspiring Minds — an employability assessment company after getting feedback from more than 55,000 students who graduated in 2011.
Expressing concern over the employability situation Mr Sibal said, “India needs to build a healthy workforce of over 5 million people by 2022 and improve the system manifold to achieve it.” The report was released at the India Education Summit in New Delhi.
Throwing light on the report, Varun Agarwal, cofounder and CEO of Aspiring Minds said that the report identified employability patterns across different regions and kinds of colleges, then analysing in detail the distribution of employability.
“India has a sizable engineering talent pool, however, only 17 per cent are fit toenter the IT industry. The National Employability Report is a detailed study on the employability situation, and can be a reference for industry and academia to understand and address the gaps and rectify the issues in the education system,” said Agarwal.
He added that the report further revealed that the limitation was not just in the supply, as there was an invisible talent pool, which was not utilised due to the absence of a mechanized hiring and inclusion system.
It not only contributed to inefficiency but also was potentially destroying higher education. Also only 3.51 per cent are appropriately trained for direct employment.