In India, the young generation makes up of two thirds of the population and the number of qualified students are increasing rapidly. With the increasing rate of educated population, employment rate is considerably getting low due to the increased competition and industry standards. This is due to the inability of formal education to keep up with industry requirements in our country.

The curriculum followed in schools and colleges are theory based and the industry requires practical based knowledge. The loophole lies in no inclusion of skill development or vocational education in sectors which can employ the youth in large numbers in numerous skilled industries. Many factors can be responsible for this such as irrelevant academic curriculum, employer's inability to provide skill based training or even for individual's lack of interest in doing so.

To bridge the gap, the current education system has to adapt to the current scenario. This system incorporates an all-inclusive training program according to industry requirements. It complements the current industry scenario by facilitating students with relevant practical knowledge of the industry. Contemporary education includes an interesting and up-to-date curriculum. The other facet of contemporary education is to provide instruction in a language understood by the locals, which is designed to produce, not only educationally and fundamentally strong students but also equally responsible, environmentally conscious and forward thinking citizens.

With globalization and digitalisation taking over in every sphere, institutes can no longer afford to have a generic curriculum. Every course must incorporate an industry specific flavour in order to cater to the growing needs of professionals in various sectors. If such training is provided from a younger age, students can gain valuable insights of the industry of their choice. This can give them a concrete knowledge based foundation which can then be converted from theoretical knowledge to real-time application in the industry.

At present, the catalyst of change in the backdrop of education is technology. Technology has the capacity of providing education to thousands of people who need not necessarily be enrolled into an institute. This form of education includes video learning; virtual classrooms and visual aids that allow the student to self learn the courses at their own pace.

India's education system need not be compared with the education environment of the rest of the world as every country has obstructions to overcome. In India, universal education at affordable rates must be given the utmost priority and basic education must no longer be a luxury that is offered only to a few.

Anuj Kacker

He is the Executive Director at Aptech. An Electronics Engineer from IIT Kanpur and a management graduate from IIM Kolkata, Kacker has over 23 years of experience in a variety of highly competitive industries like Pharmaceuticals, Paints and Consumer Durables. Prior to Aptech he had successful tenures in multinationals such as ICI, Akai and Jenson and Nicholson. Kacker has incessantly helped power the company's rapid growth worldwide in countries such as Fiji, Latin America, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and India. He was awarded the 'Indira Super Achiever Award' for 2007, recognizing his Talent, Competence, Skills & contribution to the organization.