Crime Today News
By Lubna Ludheen
India today stands at a critical juncture as it is home to the world’s largest youth population, according to the UNFPA State of World Population report of 2023, and is also witnessing rapid growth in digital connectivity. Yet, beneath this promising surface lie deep-rooted challenges within the education system. While enrolment rates have risen and access to smartphones has expanded even in rural areas, systemic issues persist in the form of poor learning outcomes, outdated curricula, and inequitable access, particularly for migrant children and those in government schools.
Despite the promise of education as a leveller, the India Employment Report shows that over 50% of Indian youth were unemployed in 2022, and foundational literacy and numeracy continue to be unmet goals. A college degree, once seen as a ticket to success, now often fails to ensure employability or empowerment.
Learning crisis and access gaps
Despite near-universal enrolment at the elementary level, India still faces a learning crisis. According to trends from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), only 30% of students in Grade 3 can read at grade level. By Grade 8, this rises to 50%, underscoring how years of schooling often do not translate into actual learning. Access, therefore, is not the same as education.
This disconnect is especially visible in vulnerable groups. Migrant children are some of the most disadvantaged in accessing consistent education due to frequent relocations and a lack of integration into host communities. Additionally, language continues to be a barrier, particularly for children from tribal communities or non-dominant linguistic groups. When instruction is not delivered in a language the child understands, it hinders both engagement and learning outcomes.
While “all children have a school to go to,” learning outcomes remain disturbingly low, especially in government schools. The inequity is layered by income, geography, and gender, further embedding the cycles of poverty and underachievement.
To address this crisis, India must go beyond infrastructure and enrollment metrics. The focus must shift to ensuring foundational literacy and numeracy, beginning from early grades and extending support where children are most likely to fall through the cracks.
Declining value of college degree
The promise of a college degree as a passport to success is steadily reducing. In India, even as enrolment in higher education rises, employability remains alarmingly low. Dr. Gunjan Rajput, Deputy Registrar, Rishihood University, shared a striking instance from the field of a Zomato delivery executive who, after three years of college, claimed to have learned nothing useful, calling it a “waste of time.” The Zomato delivery executive’s words reflect a broader discontentment. The curriculum he followed bore no relevance to the job market, nor did it equip him with practical or critical thinking skills.
This is not an uncommon experience. Nationwide, nearly 50% of youth are unemployed despite holding formal qualifications. Such figures expose a mismatch between educational outcomes and employment opportunities. Degrees often serve as hollow credentials, failing to translate into meaningful livelihood prospects.
This situation calls into question the very goals of our higher education system. Are we preparing students to face real-world challenges, or just guiding them towards outdated notions of success? Until curricula, teaching, and assessments are reformed to reflect current realities, the college degree will continue to lose its value in perception and practice.
Digital literacy: Untapped potential
India stands at the turning point of a digital revolution, with rising smartphone usage and the spread of the internet across even the most remote regions. However, a closer look reveals a concerning paradox—a study conducted by ASER shows that while 80% of students own or have access to smartphones, most use them primarily for entertainment, not education. This underutilisation reflects a deeper issue: digital access is not the same as digital literacy.
Findings from the field indicate that although students and parents are enthusiastic about technology, only a fraction are aware of how to leverage it for learning. There have been instances where students could barely operate basic functions on a smartphone or navigate online search tools, and schools, too, lacked the infrastructure or training to guide digital learning. Digital literacy assessments conducted across districts revealed that less than 10% of students used the internet to aid their studies, despite widespread mobile phone ownership.
Yet, this gap also presents a profound opportunity. With thoughtful integration of AI-enabled personalised learning platforms, skill-based educational apps, and digital resource kits, students can be equipped with competencies far beyond rote memorisation. Moreover, teachers trained in digital courses can transform classrooms into dynamic learning spaces.
To harness the digital dividend, India must shift from mere access to a meaningful, guided digital engagement that enhances learning outcomes and bridges the education-employment divide.
Systemic reforms needed
India’s education system requires a systemic transformation that goes beyond increasing enrolment. Curriculum innovation is imperative—current textbooks are often outdated, and what is taught remains disconnected from lived experiences. Students “mug up” content without understanding the information taught to them. The curriculum must be redesigned to integrate local knowledge, real-life problem-solving, and skill-building.
Teacher training remains another major bottleneck. The pre-service training lacks practical classroom preparedness, and in-service programmes are largely tick-box exercises. Teachers reported feeling unprepared to engage with students, especially in a multilingual context, and often struggle with “overloaded syllabi” and unrealistic expectations.
Assessment practices must also shift from by-heart memorisation to measuring actual learning outcomes. The practice of merely promoting students to higher grades without letting them master fundamentals deepens the learning crisis.
Lastly, the home environment plays a critical but overlooked role. Several children lack basic study support at home, often due to parents’ low literacy or economic pressures. Bridging school-home gaps through community engagement and parental awareness programmes is essential to ensure sustained learning.
Conclusion and call to action
India’s education system faces several challenges even as it stands at a critical juncture. While access to schooling has expanded, foundational learning remains alarmingly low, with only 30% of Grade 3 children achieving grade-level proficiency. Simultaneously, a college degree no longer guarantees employment, and the digital revolution risks bypassing education altogether. To realise our demographic dividend, we must shift the focus from mere access to quality, relevance, and digital inclusion.
Policymakers, educators, and communities need to rethink how we educate children. This means starting early in their childhood, supporting teachers, using digital tools wisely, and focusing on real, useful learning for students. An inclusive, adaptive, and skills-oriented system is not a luxury—it is a necessity.
With deliberate, systemic reform, India’s youth can move beyond by-heart learning to become creators, leaders, and changemakers on the global stage—not just degree-holders waiting for job opportunities.
(CDPP held a conference in Hyderabad on March 28, 2025, titled “Development Policy and Practice Conference, March 2025.” This article is based on the panel discussion on “Education: Bridging Digital and Social Divide.”)
Lubna Ludheen is a Research Associate at CDPP. She has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru. Her interests lie in the fields of women and gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and sustainable development.
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