The school to work transition: providing the missing link of employability skills in Uttar Pradesh, India

The unemployability crisis – where jobseekers lack the necessary knowledge and skills to join the modern workforce – is particularly severe in India. Each year, over 12 million youths enter the workforce, but only 30% are employable. Women are even less likely to enter formal employment. Although many of these youths have completed college or secondary education, limitations in the quality of schooling provided means that students lack the necessary skills to enter the formal sector. The NGO Medha, is working within the public sector schooling system to provide critical additional training allowing underprivileged students – particularly women –  to build on the skills they are learning in school to be able to launch careers in the private sector. Medha uses experiential learning techniques to prepare students to enter the labor force with good public speaking and collaboration skills and the life skills needed to plan and navigate their careers.