Page 182 - DEDU501_DEVELOPMENT_OF_EDUCATION_SYSTEM_ENGLISH
P. 182

Development of Education System


                   Notes          (i)  Secondary Education Contributes to Economic Growth: In India, technological innovations,
                                      openness to world trade, and rapid economic growth have fuelled the demand for skilled
                                      workers. Recent analysis confirms that most of the employment growth over the past ten
                                      years has taken place in skilled services (information technology, financial  services,
                                      telecommunications, tourism and retail) and skillintensive  manufacturing, all of which
                                      require, at a minimum, a secondary education degree. Meanwhile, employment  declined
                                      in low-skilled occupations, and stagnated in agriculture as agricultural value-added growth
                                      decelerated sharply in the second half of the 1990s. Even in rural areas, job prospects are
                                      better for the more qualified. Further, there is a rising overseas demand for highly skilled
                                      and semiskilled workers from India, most notably in the USA, UK, Southeast Asia, and the
                                      Gulf states.
                                      However, employer surveys increasingly indicate that shortages of skilled workers
                                      constitute constraints to new private sector investment and growth. The Federation of
                                      Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) conducted a survey of Indian industry
                                      in July 2007, whose results clearly showed that “the shortage of skilled and semi-skilled…
                                      workers has emerged as a critical factor impacting the competitiveness of Indian industry”.
                                      The skills shortages appear when trying to expand production (fill new vacancies), upgrade
                                      existing employees to more technology-intensive production processes, or replace loss of
                                      employees to higher paying employers. Shortages were reported across many segments
                                      of industry, including oil and gas, biotechnology, food processing, IT, aviation, health
                                      care, construction, automotive, mining, textiles, plastics, finance, insurance, chemicals and
                                      pharmaceuticals. From industry’s perspective, a more skilled workforce (meaning workers
                                      with at least secondary education) is critical for increasing technical absorption, reducing
                                      rejection levels and enhancing the quality of products for both domestic and international
                                      markets.
                                      Furthermore, a 2008 survey of 600 companies – both Indian and foreign - conducted by a
                                      human resources consulting firm10 showed double-digit salary increases in both 2007 and
                                      2008 in real estate, energy, retail, telecommunications, banking/finance, accounting/legal,
                                      IT and back-office processing (all of which require at least a secondary education), which
                                      suggests employers are having to compete more for scarce skilled personnel. Interestingly,
                                      staff at the junior manager and professional levels received the largest pay increases,
                                      rather than senior/top management. In summary, all of the trends discussed above led a
                                      recent study of the Indian labor market to conclude: “This highlights the importance of
                                      enhancing secondary education, an area where India is still lagging.”11 Quantitative
                                      economic analysis supports this conclusion - the marginal private returns to additional
                                      education have been highest in secondary education, although in recent years the increases
                                      have been greatest at the senior secondary and tertiary levels. Given that skilled workers
                                      and professionals can migrate abroad much more easily to search for greater opportunities,
                                      if the earnings of Indian overseas workers were taken into account, the returns to secondary
                                      and higher education would be even greater12. The marginal returns to girls’ education
                                      have consistently been higher than those for boys and, comparing 1999 and 2004 calculations,
                                      the returns to girls’ senior secondary and tertiary education increased much faster than the
                                      returns to boys’ education.
                                      The extraordinarily high rates of return for girls compared to boys are caused by the size
                                      of the earnings differentials between males and females at different levels of education.
                                      Females earn less than men at all levels of education, but the relative disadvantage is less
                                      for female secondary education graduates than at the elementary education level. The
                                      difference in earnings between girls with a secondary education and those with an upper
                                      primary degree is much greater than the difference between boys at these two levels.
                                      High returns for girls also reflect a selection bias, as girls who complete secondary education
                                      tend to be more able and motivated, and come from better socio-economic backgrounds,
                                      than the general population of girls.13 As a result, girls realize a much higher rate of
                                      return on secondary education investments than boys (World Bank, 2002b). This selectivity
                                      bias will decrease as more girls attend secondary schooling.




        176                                 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187