What does it take to make One Young India?
65% of India's population is below 35 years of age. We are a very young country and are going through a transition period where many young people will join the working population. It was this demographic transition that helped China achieve growth rates that are still difficult to match for most countries. But is India's youth adequately equipped to steer India's growth aspirations?
Unfortunately, the situation seems grim at the moment but all is not lost. With 50% of India's population below 25 years, there is huge ground to cover in terms of skill development and delivering innovative education. India's demographic transition comes at a time of drastic change in the world where new technologies are threatening disappearance of low skill jobs. Just recently, Google at its 2018 I/O conference introduced its AI assistant called 'Duplex'. With its efficiency, the technology threatens millions of call center jobs that only a decade back was a promising career for many young Indians. At the same time, automation and softwares are replacing humans in manufacturing and service industry as well. 10 years back the demand for web developers was sky rocketing and now in 2018 it only takes an AI based software to develop you a functional online store for less than Rs. 10,000 (approx. $150) !!!
This trend is alarming and Indian youth needs to be aware about these developments that impact their career prospects. Parents and teachers need to understand that jobs of today are not going to employ people of future. The skill sets required in 10 years will have to be taught today and in addition the young India would need to be taught to learn. Continuous education is in itself becoming a skill for the 21st century and an indispensable one at that.
It is these developments that have made us at One Young India develop programs and curriculum that aims at instilling a culture of learning among the youth. To materialize this learning culture we are designing learning spaces where students come to enquire, innovate, collaborate and create.
We think this quote by Eric Hoffer explains beautifully the need for education as a continuous process.
" In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer