A degree should lead to a job: skill our young for the work that exists
Opinion: this editorial reflects the editor's view.
Every year lakhs of young people in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana graduate with hope and enter a job market that asks for skills their courses did not give them. Even as Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam attract technology, pharma and manufacturing investment, employers keep saying they cannot find enough job-ready candidates. Free short courses, such as the data engineering programme now offered to unemployed graduates, show that the gap can be bridged quickly when training is practical.
The answer is to put industry at the centre of education. Colleges should tie up with employers for internships and apprenticeships, update syllabi every year, and test students on what they can do rather than what they can memorise. Governments should fund training that is linked to actual vacancies and publish results, so that programmes that place graduates are expanded and those that do not are closed.
The best job scheme, however, is a growing private economy. That needs faster approvals, reliable power and land, and predictable rules. The Centre's new labour codes, which are now being explained to employers and workers, are meant to make it easier to hire formally and expand. Their success will be judged by whether they create jobs.
The other side
Trade unions argue that the labour codes weaken protections for workers and that employers gain flexibility without any promise of jobs. Economists note that many skilling schemes have had patchy placement records, and that unemployment also reflects slow job creation in the wider economy, which training alone cannot fix. Some want the public sector to create more jobs directly.
