Kathmandu, November 11
An estimated 54 per cent of South Asian youth will leave school without the necessary skills to get a decent job in the next decade (2030), according to data produced by the Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Education), the Education Commission, and UNICEF.
According to the data, South Asia lags behind several other regions in preparing the next generation of young people with the skills they will need for 21st-century work.
Projections place South Asia well below the global average. This builds on the estimates UNICEF produced with the Commission last year on the projected learning outcomes in 2030 for all South Asian countries.
When it comes to Nepal, the study has projected that 46 per cent of high-school graduates in the country will not have the skills required to get a decent job by 2030. The current number is only 13 per cent.
When it comes to South Asian countries, Nepal ranks at number four tied with the Maldives and behind Bhutan (81), Bangladesh (55) and India (47).
“Every day, nearly 100,000 young South Asians – a large sports stadium of young people – enter the labour market, almost half of them not on track to finding 21st-century jobs,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.
A recent UNICEF ‘Voices of Youth’ survey conducted among 32,000 young people in South Asia reveals concerns among these under 24-year-olds about how well they are being prepared for the modern economy. According to the poll, many young people in South Asia feel their education systems are outdated and do not prepare them for employment.
They cite lack of work experience (26%), inadequate support services to improve employability (23% received no support and most received limited and not comprehensive support), and bribery demands/discriminatory and unfair hiring practices (44%) as key barriers to finding employment even after they have graduated.
