Thursday, October 1, 2015

An Analysis on Engagement of Youth Population in Kerala


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
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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