Examining gaps in skills and employability in South Asia

British Council members from the SAARC region and top professionals and educationists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka met for the first time at a workshop in Colombo to discuss English, skills development, and employabiity in South Asia. The workshop was organised by the British Council Colombo last week.

Country Director, British Council Sri Lanka, Keith Davies said that skills development is one of the most defining issue in South Asia. Unfortunately, he said, most of their colleagues in Nepal were not able to attend this workshop owing to the disaster in Nepal and steps will be taken soon to help them to rebuild their lives once again. Although 60 million people enter the labour market each year in South Asia from age groups of 15-24 years, there seems to be a disconnect between labour market needs and education. Twenty five per cent of these youths were unemployed. The major constraint of finding jobs for youths in South Asia was the lack of skills in computer literacy, communication skills leadership qualities and the knowledge of the English language. Mr. Davies said the skills development in South Asia dialogue was unique owing to the participation of all British Councils in the South Asian region. But above all, the participation of professionals in their respective fields was far more important.

Meanwhile statistics show that the South Asian region with a population of 1.6 billion of which 20 per cent are between 15-24 age group is a sizeable emerging generation with a middle class of more than 400 million in contrast to 500 million living below the poverty line. It is also a home to the world’s largest democracy and also to fragile states but faces major challenges on access to education. It is predicted that that one million people will enter the labour force every month for the next 20 years. There are also more than 750 universities in the region with 1,500 more planned. There is an extensive and unorganised informal education sector and more than four million people are taking vocational courses but the demand is for more than 100 million places. While urbanisation is an important trend in the region but there is still a significant demand for skills in the rural areas. However the problem was that rural areas were being marginalized through weak school systems, a lack of training, lack of employment opportunities and low value work that leads to a cycle of low skilled workers leaving to seek employment. In urban areas there is insufficient training to meet demand which is exacerbated by the numbers of low skilled workers who move to the city to find opportunities.

Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, P. Ranepura who was the guest of honour at the workshop, said that university education was not there to groom anyone for a particular job as such but to broaden wisdom and knowledge of persons. He said those who were knowledgeable in the English language were at a distinct advantage over others not knowledgeable in finding employment. Leadership skills, teamwork, communication skills helps to find employment in a competitive market. He said many Sri Lankan undergraduates prefer public sector jobs to corporate sector ones even with low salaries and it was difficult to change the mindset.

According to reports one of the biggest challenges for South Asian countries in coming years is to unlock the potential of the millions of young people entering the workforce. The region is poised to benefit from a “demographic dividend” which could lead to great gains in poverty reduction, employment generation and economic growth. The other result is the widespread youth unemployment. In this context the importance of skills development as a driver of socio economic development was essential. Governments have recognized the importance of education and training in this process. There have been notable successes in improved participation rates for primary and secondary education across the region. But youth unemployment and underdevelopment remains, despite a growing educated young workers joining the workforce. As a result policy makers are now placing greater emphasis on understanding gaps in labour markets and developing systems to address these issues.

Chief Operating Officer of Tata Group India, Anita Ranjan said it was a huge task to absorb one million people who seek employment every month in India. She said 93 per cent of the work force in India was from the informal sector and the Indian industry was now looking at the global market in the software sector where programmes were done in English. Hospitality, tourism, the auto and the IT industry have ambitions of becoming global players. As such learning English provides better prospects of finding jobs. Referring to her organisation she said that short term programmes are provided to some employees to acquire skills in English that will further provide their educational needs. However owing to a paucity of trainers in English, many volunteers from the company have come forward to fill this gap, she said.