Education will shape up India’s fortune as Super-Power more than ever before !
Education is the most important thing for humans to develop a sense of consciousness around them. It gives a sense of knowledge and makes sure that the person gains awareness on many things thereby transforming it into something better. Education also plays a decisive role in the upbringing of the nation as an economic powerhouse.
In 2018, without much attention, India (along with Bangladesh) entered into a period of “Demographic dividend”. Demographic dividend, as defined by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) means,
“the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)”
It means the working age people will be larger in number than their dependants which will result in higher amount of economic gains both personal as well as country terms. This phenomenon happens when the “total fertility rate” (birth rate per woman) declines as we move forward in years. For example India’s TFR in the year 1960 was around 5.91. This means for every woman there were an average of almost 6 children. However this rate declined to 2.2 in 2019. This decline means that the persons below 15 years and above 64 will be less in number thereby propelling economic growth for a specific period.
Japanese Ninja Masterpiece
There are many examples of demographic dividend in the past with Japan being the most noticeable. Fertility rates were high in Japan over the 1930s that resulted in rapid labour force growth over the 1960s at a time when growth of the population was slowing, thereby increasing wealth. The Economic growth persisted through the 1970s and 80s, which are termed as a golden era in Japanese economic performance. It was predicted to go past into the new millennium but it was cut short before since the population ageing was overpowering the population growth. However, it is also a well known fact that any country that experiences the demographic dividend will have an ageing population that will become dependent one after the period of demographic dividend. (Japan is now one of the oldest nation with average age of 47)
Enter the Chinese Dragon
China and Brazil were also some of the latest entrants into the Demographic dividends. China had a vast population growth in later half of the 20th century. Around 1982, they reached the one billion mark. They entered the demographic dividend just before the start of this millennium (around 1994) and also restricted their population growth by introducing the “One Child Policy”. This had paid off by almost averaging a 9.5% growth from 1989 to 2019. Now it’s the second largest economy with GDP of 14 trillion dollars only behind US.
India’s Challenges towards Super-Power Status
However, it’s not taken for granted that we would for sure be seeing an economic growth. This is where we need to fine-tune our aspects regarding the education and its subsequent by-product of work jobs. It has been estimated that 10 million jobs are to be created per year in order to absorb the incoming youngsters into the working environment. And another report states that by 2022, we might have 100 million people unable to get jobs due to lack of skills. Imagine our current situation where 15 million youngsters enter into the workforce annually for the next 3–4 years and over 75% of them are not even job-ready.
To realise the maximum potential of growth, the onus is upon us to re-skill the youngsters to make sure that they are job ready and provide education to the future youngsters. Around 35–40% of the Indian population is below the age of 20 years, hence to reap the rewards of the demographic dividend, the country must provide it’s utmost importance to better education.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that we must learn or educate our-self to go and get placed in the corporate job alone. Education is required for everyone, irrespective of any field, be it a sportsperson who needs to know on how to go about his sports and master that field. To be the best in your field always learn and educate yourself. This is the best investment you could do for yourself as well as for the nation and the world. Hence, India requires each and everyone’s best efforts if it has to use this 37 golden years (2018–2055) of demographic dividend to become a super-power in the future.
I would like to end this article with the thought provoking quote of late Nelson Mandela
“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
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