India’s Education Expansion: Building Human Capital or Just Producing Degrees?
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India stands at a demographic turning point. By the end of this decade, the country will possess the largest youth population in the world. In policy discourse, this is often celebrated as a demographic dividend. But demographic advantage is not automatic; it depends on whether young people can translate education into productive employment.
The expansion of education spending and reforms under the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) aim precisely at strengthening India’s human capital base. The real question, however, is whether expanding education alone can deliver economic opportunity when job creation itself remains uneven.
Recent Union Budgets reflect an ambitious push to modernise India’s education system. The Union Budget 2025-26 allocated around ₹1,28,650 crore to education, prioritising infrastructure and digital access. Initiatives included broadband connectivity for schools, the expansion of Atal Tinkering Labs, digital learning materials in Indian languages and new infrastructure for the Indian Institutes of Technology.
The following year, the Union Budget 2026-27 increased allocations to ₹1,39,285.95 crore, an increase of about 8.27%. New proposals included girls’ hostels in every district, university townships, specialised institutes in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and a committee focused on “Education to Employment and Entrepreneurship.”
State governments have also expanded spending. Uttar Pradesh, for example, allocated ₹80,997 crore to basic education while increasing investment in vocational programmes, smart classrooms and artificial-intelligence laboratories. These initiatives suggest that governments are trying to align education with emerging technological and knowledge sectors.
The broader policy framework guiding these reforms is NEP 2020, which seeks to transform the education system through multidisciplinary learning, flexibility in degree programmes and greater emphasis on skills. One of its most ambitious goals is to raise the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education to 50% by 2035, up from around 27% in 2018. According to the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), enrolment in higher education has been steadily increasing in recent years
The policy also aims to expose at least half of all learners to vocational education by the middle of the decade. In principle, this shift could bridge the long-standing divide between academic education and labour-market skills. Yet the expansion of access raises a deeper question: does more education automatically translate into better human capital?
One persistent concern is the quality of teaching. The NEP emphasises continuous professional development for teachers and highlights teacher training as a cornerstone of reform. However, financial allocations for teacher education remain modest relative to the scale of transformation envisioned.
Under the Samagra Shiksha programme, which integrates several school-education schemes, teacher training accounts for only a limited share of total education spending. Without substantial investment in teacher capacity, improvements in learning outcomes may remain limited. International experience shows that infrastructure expansion alone cannot guarantee educational quality.
The push toward vocational education faces similar implementation challenges. Several states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, have expanded vocational programmes through school-based skill streams, polytechnic institutions, and partnerships with industry. For instance, Tamil Nadu has strengthened vocational pathways within higher secondary education, while West Bengal has introduced skill-oriented courses in thousands of secondary schools.
Yet, despite these initiatives, vocational education remains a relatively small component of the overall education system. According to data from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), only a limited share of secondary school students is enrolled in vocational courses, indicating that skill-based education has yet to become a mainstream pathway.
Labour-market evidence reinforces this concern: data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) suggests that a significant proportion of graduates still lack the practical skills required by industry. But even if education reforms succeed in improving employability, the central puzzle remains unresolved: where are the jobs?
Industry partnerships, internships and apprenticeships can help graduates transition into employment, but they cannot replace the fundamental requirement of large-scale job creation. When the economy itself does not generate enough employment opportunities, educational expansion alone cannot absorb the growing number of graduates.
Recent labour-market trends highlight this structural tension. India’s overall unemployment rate fell to about 4.8% in 2025, yet youth unemployment remains significantly higher. At the same time, employability indicators have improved only marginally. According to the India Skills Report, employability rose from 54.81% in 2025 to 56.35% in 2026.
Sectoral patterns also reveal the limits of labour absorption. The information-technology sector is expected to generate millions of jobs by the end of the decade, particularly in fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data science. Healthcare employment is also projected to expand significantly, while renewable energy is emerging as another important source of future jobs. Yet these sectors together cannot absorb the millions of graduates entering the labour market every year.
Historically, manufacturing has played a crucial role in generating mass employment in developing economies. In India, however, manufacturing growth has become increasingly capital-intensive, with automation limiting its capacity to create jobs at scale.
This growing mismatch between education expansion and labour-market demand raises the risk of degree inflation a situation in which the number of graduates rises faster than the availability of suitable employment opportunities. In such circumstances, graduates may find themselves underemployed or working in occupations that do not require their qualifications.
Another dimension of NEP 2020 is its encouragement of greater private participation in higher education. Private institutions can expand capacity and introduce innovation, but they also raise concerns about affordability and equity. Higher tuition costs may restrict access for students from economically weaker backgrounds, while quality assurance across institutions remains uneven.
Ultimately, education policy cannot be separated from economic strategy. Human capital formation depends not only on better schools and universities but also on an economy capable of productively employing skilled workers.
India’s education budgets and NEP 2020 represent an important step toward expanding access and modernising the education system. But the success of these reforms will depend on whether economic growth generates sufficient employment opportunities for the country’s rapidly expanding pool of graduates.
If education policy and economic strategy move together, India’s youth population could become a powerful engine of growth. If they move apart, the country may discover that producing degrees is far easier than producing jobs.
Dr. Tajamul Rehman Sofi is an economics researcher specialising in financial stability, banking efficiency, jobless growth and public policy analysis. The views are personal.
Limiting screen time
CHILDREN need education, physical activity, family and relaxation as well as adequate time for sleep (around nine to 12 hours depending on their age). This has become harder to manage as screen time has been increasing a lot in recent decades. A typical day for me —before the era of mobile phones, the internet and social media — was school till about 2pm, lunch, some time for relaxation, an hour or two for homework, and then, depending on the time of the year, playing with friends in the neighbourhood. Cricket, hockey, football, cycling, even gulli danda and pithoo gol garam were all indulged in till around sunset when it became too dark to see anything. Only then would we return home. An hour or so of some schoolwork or Quran study followed before dinner and family time. Bedtime was not much later than 9 pm, after we had time to wind down and read a book for about half an hour.
Though I was not the fittest of children in the neighbourhood, the hockey and cricket we played gave me enough experience to not only have an interest in the games but to be part of teams up to college and university level. And they helped me be comfortable with physical activity and kept me reasonably fit and mobile.
Times have changed. Television has become a lot more enticing. Mobile phones, the internet and social media have made online activities much more attractive, even addictive. The reading culture has taken a hit while audio/ visual engagement has increased. Perceptions and reality of security have changed to the point where many families are uncomfortable with their children playing in the neighbourhood. Families have become more nuclear, and social/ physical mobility has made neighbourhoods less known and less friendly. All this means children in general spend more time at home, glued to their TV, computer and mobile screens; they have far fewer opportunities for structured physical activities. With concurrent changes in our diet, health outcomes for our children are different too.
Evidence regarding screen time and its impact on child development and health, as well as reduced physical activity, richer foods and less engagement with the real, as opposed to the virtual, world are leading many countries to counsel parents and schools to limit child exposure to screens. Some countries have legislated that social media will not be available to children under 16. Others are mulling similar restrictions. Some countries have said that mobile phones will no longer be allowed in schools. Some have said that screen time, even in educational institutions, would only be allowed when needed; the use of pen, paper and books should make up the rest of the time.
Children today have far fewer opportunities for structured physical activities.
We’re still behind the curve in Pakistan, where schools and parents take screen time to be a way of increasing access and ensuring quality. The Punjab government recently announced that AI would be part of the curriculum across all grades in public and private schools.
Given that outside space is not considered very safe, community and neighbourhood bonds seem to have weakened. Diets increasingly include rich foods, screens are a lot more addictive, and we expose children to more screen time for educational purposes. So, how do we structure physical activity or other activities for our children that would ensure better overall development and reduce the harm triggered by overexposure to screens?
If our school timings were as long as they are in some countries, games and physical activities could be organised in schools. But our schools let children go at around 1.30pm, and between 8am and 1:30-2 pm, there is not enough time for regular games if students are to take the full load of the curriculum as well. Making school days longer would mean providing lunch and other facilities. This might not be practical even in the medium run. Some schools, like Aitchison, make sports compulsory for all students who have to return to school in the afternoon/ evening a few times a week. But this is only possible as Aitchison caters to the upper income groups for whom transport cost is affordable. Aitchison also has 176 acres of land so they have all the grounds and facilities needed to cater to a few thousand students. Most private and public schools do not have such facilities.
Within the possibilities present, schools can ensure that screens are used only when necessary, mobile phones are not allowed on the premises, and 30 minutes or so are set aside daily for physical activity within school timings. If schools can start music and art classes and introduce book clubs or skill acquisition clubs, this would be of great help in engaging students in productive activities.
Can we create safe spaces for children in neighbourhoods? These could be sports clubs, community centres or activity/ skill clubs where children from the neighbourhood could go. It would be too expensive and impractical to bring children back to school in the afternoon/ evening, but if there was a good space within the community where they could be supervised by trusted adults and have enough room to play and engage with each other, the impact on children’s environment and upbringing could be positive.
Computers, mobile phones and the internet are tremendous channels for learning and interaction, but, and there is plenty of evidence about this now, they also have a strong negative impact on learning and children’s mental health. Many countries are trying to limit the use of computers and social media for young people to ensure the positive remains but the negative is curtailed. One way of doing this is to engage young people in physical and other activities, not only to ensure their well-being but also to limit the overuse of screens and social media. But structuring physical activity and sports/ skill clubs in today’s changed environment is difficult. We need innovation in schools and communities to create spaces that allow us opportunities for gainfully engaging young people.
The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives and an associate professor of economics at Lums.
Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2026
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