Skilling of Youth has a decisive role in the development of nations. When India is fast becoming a global super power and blessed with demographic dividend, imparting necessary skill sets to the youth population emerges as an immediate area of concern for policy makers and development scientists. The case is not different in the case of Kerala, around one third of the population falls in this category.
Despite these facts, the employment rate, as per National Sample Survey of India, is 12.6%. The registrants in the Kerala employment exchange are 43 lakhs. Also, when countries like Korea and Mexico have achieved levels of 96% and 78% respectively in skilling, our people have simply below 20. This most disturbing fact needs to be mull over to expedite the existing pace of skill development in Kerala.
Youth Populace of Kerala
Census 2011 estimated the population of Kerala 33.3 million. Being the objective was to look in to the engagement of youth (15-29) in Kerala, an analysis of the targeted population was vital. Moli, (2007) (Kerala Youth, A demographic Analysis) reported that 27.6% of the population falls in the category of youth (15-29). The detailed analysis inferred that 32%, 10%, and 58% are in the sub-categories Adolescent (15-19), early-adulthood (20-24), and Adulthood (25-29) respectively. Based on this categorisation, a revised analysis based on the 2011 Census has been done and presented in the (Table. 1). It is imperative to note that the skilling category of ASAP, Adolescents (15-19) is 3006443.
Table 1: Status of Youth Population in Kerala*
| Sl. No. | Category | Strength | Percentage |
| 1 | Youth (15-29) | 9395136 | 100 |
| 2 | Adolescents (15-19) | 3006443 | 32 |
| 3 | Early- Adulthood (20-24) | 939513 | 10 |
| 4 | Adulthood (25-29) | 5449179 | 58 |
*Approximate
Learning Avenues
Even though the task of skilling 93.9 lakh youth population is challenging, government has come up with myriad initiatives to reap benefit from this dividend. Among these, skill infrastructure of Kerala needs to be explained.
It is significant to note that around 4.8 lakhs people pass secondary school ever year, whereas Higher Secondary has an enrolment capacity of 3.5 lakhs. Also, the strength of degree colleges in Kerala is around 2 lakhs. When different technical institutions (ITI and Poly Technique) produce 45, 000 students every year, Vocational education arm of higher secondary of Kerala enrol around 30,000 every year.
It is estimated that the number students in graduate engineering 40,000, engineering diploma holders 12,000, ITI certificate holders 47, 000 and skill certified candidates through Vocational Training Providers 5,000 and other sectors account for 1,50,000 (SSDP). Also, the skill infrastructure of Kerala consists of 73 Government ITIs, ™47 SC/ST Development ITIs, ™454 Private ITIs, ™68 VTPs (Vocational Training Providers), 5 Centres of Excellence ITIs under domestic funding, 7 under World Bank aided scheme, and 21 under PPP schemes, 21 ITIs & 2 SCDD ITIs apart from skill development Initiative scheme based on Modular Employable Skills (MES) ™and apprenticeship training is imparted under National Apprenticeship Act (DETK).
A detailed view on the education and skilling infrastructure of Kerala is given below (table 2).
Table 2: Education Infrastructure Kerala
| Sl. No. | Trade | Seats* | Sl. No. | Trade | Seats* |
| 1 | Engineering | 39744 | 10 | Polytechnic | 11185 |
| 2 | Vocational Higher Secondary* | 27000 | 11 | Food | 1610 |
| 3 | Higher Secondary* | 350000 | 12 | ITI | 47000 |
| 4 | VTP Skill Project | 5000 | 13 | Law | 400 |
| 5 | Management | 3928 | 14 | Communication | 800 |
| 6 | Nursing | 13435 | 15 | Agriculture and Veterinary | 480 |
| 7 | Paramedical | 7069 | 16 | BCA | 2850 |
| 8 | Teachers Training* | 7870 | 17 | Others (Unorganized) | 150000 |
| 9 | Medical | 6153 | 18 | Degree* | 200000 |
| | | TOTAL | 874524 |
*Approximate
Based on the estimate, total seats available for different courses for adolescent group are 874524. It is evident that a lion – portion of people engaged in education, considering the statistics and literacy rate of Kerala. It is also very heartening to see that a major chunk of courses are skill-based like engineering, paramedical, ITI and polytechnique, and especially different technical courses in skill sectors. However, the poor employability of youth is often a brewing concern.
(Source: SSDP, 2012, EduCare and Career Directory, The Mathrubhumi Publication, 2015, VHSE, KASE, ASAP, DHSE Websites)
Appendix:
1. Engineering Seats -
| Engineering | |
| Govt | 4,947 |
| Aided | 1640 |
| NIT | 865 |
| Self Financing | |
| Govt | 6532 |
| Private | 25,760 |
| TOTAL | 39744 |
Source: Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, Decan Chronicle, July 12, 2015 (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150712/nation-education/article/50-cent-seats-vacant-self-financing-engineering-colleges-kerala)
2. Nursing
| Nursing | |
| General Nursing & Midwifery | 6755 |
| B.Sc. Nursing | 6120 |
| Auxiliary Nurse & Midwife | 460 |
| Female Health Supervisor | 100 |
| TOTAL | 13435 |
3. Management
| Management | |
| BBA | 3228 |
| Hotel Mgt | 700 |
| TOTAL | 3928 |
4. Paramedical
| Paramedical | |
| D Pharm | 1350 |
| B Pharm | 1680 |
| MLT | 710 |
| Radiology | 435 |
| Ophthalmic | 1785 |
| Operation Theatre | 276 |
| Cardio Vascular | 64 |
| Neuro | 30 |
| Dialysis | 78 |
| Dental | 75 |
| Endoscopic | 12 |
| Operating Room | 20 |
| Respiratory | 4 |
| Blood Bank | 40 |
| Pharmacy | 510 |
| TOTAL | 7069 |
5. Teachers Training
| Teachers Training | |
| PPTTI | 1030 |
| TTI Private (126*30) Govt (102*30) | 6840 |
| TOTAL | 7870 |
6. Medical Degrees
| MBBS | 2600 |
| BDS | 1350 |
| BHMSS | 250 |
| BAMS | 910 |
| BSc. MLT | 230 |
| Physiotherapy | 450 |
| Optometry | 156 |
| Perfusion | 36 |
| Audiology | 110 |
| Cardiac | 11 |
| Siddha | 50 |
| TOTAL | 6153 |
7. Poly technique
| Poly | |
| Trivandrum | 1310 |
| Kollam | 600 |
| PTA | 900 |
| Alppy | 540 |
| Kottayam | 780 |
| Idukki | 760 |
| Ernakulam | 950 |
| Thrissur | 1530 |
| Palakkad | 550 |
| Malappuram | 1000 |
| Calicut | 485 |
| Kannur | 750 |
| Wayanad | 390 |
| Kasargod | 640 |
| TOTAL | 11185 |
(Source: Educare, 2015, The Mathrubhumi Publications)
8. ITI (SSDP, DETK)
9. Other Source: Educare, 2015, The Mathrubhumi Publications
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