Lok Sabha Question No. 2461 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Lack of Education and Earnings in Youth
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2461 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26/12/2018

## LACK OF EDUCATION AND EARNINGS IN YOUTH

## 2461. PROF. PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) Whether it is  a  fact  that  27.5  per  cent  male  and  female  youths  of  various  categories  neither avail education nor make any earnings in the country and if, so the details thereof;
- (b) Whether it is also a fact that the said percentage in the country is more than the percentage of other countries of the world;
- (c) If, so, the facts thereof;
- (d) Whether the Government proposes to set any targets at national level to improve the lives or the people falling these categories; and
- (e) If, so the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) and (c).    As per NSSO 71 st Round (January-June, 2014) the adult literates (age 15 years and above)  in  India  are  80%  males  and  61%  females.  As  per  UNICEF  (data  updated  in  October, 2015), the Youth Literacy (age 15-24 years) was 86%. The Youth Literacy rates for some other countries are 100% (China), 99% (Indonesia), 98% (Sri Lanka), 85% (Nepal), 81% (Bangladesh), and 71% (Pakistan) etc. It is 91% for the world. There are variations in youth literacy rates across the globe.

2.  India's  higher  education  Gross  Enrolment  Ratio  (GER)  for  the  age  group,  18-23  years  has increased from 11.6% in 2005-06 to 25.8% in 2017-18. As per UNESCO, 2016 the world average of GER in tertiary education is 37%. The GERs of some other countries are, 50% (Brazil), 82% (Russia) and 48% (China), 20% (South Africa), 19% (Sri Lanka), 10% (Pakistan), 15% (Qatar) and 12% (Kenya) etc.

3. The number of enrolments in higher education in India has increased from 14.3 million in 200506 to 36.6 million in 2017-18.

4. The GER at secondary level and higher secondary levels has increased from 52.5% and 28.5% respectively  in  2005-06  to  84.19%  and  55.93%  in  2016-17.  The  number  of  enrolments  has increased from 13.4 million and 5.5 million at secondary and higher secondary levels in 2005-06 to 38.8 million and 24.4 million at respective levels in 2016-17.

(b).   The youth literacy as well as education status are different in different countries. The Indian Education System is expanding at very high pace. It is observed that education plays a central role in modern labour markets. Hundreds of studies in many different countries and time periods have confirmed that better-educated individuals earn higher wages, experience less unemployment, and work in more prestigious occupations than their less-educated counterparts.

(d) & (e). some of the targets besides others as per NITI's Strategy for New India @ 75 are given as under:

- (i) By the year 2022-23, the targets are achievement of hundred per cent enrolment and retention at secondary education level and achieving the target of zero dropouts.
- (ii) Increasing the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education from 25 per cent in 2016-17 to 35 per cent.
- (iii) Improving employability of students completing their higher education.
- (iv) The Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan will support further improvement in the education system of the country.
- (v) Increasing the proportion of formally skilled labour from the current 5.4 per cent of India's workforce to at least 15 per cent.
- (vi) Increasing female labour force participation to at least 30 per cent.

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