The times we live in have are witness to drastic change in the concept of an ideal job. Our beliefs around an ideal career too have changed drastically. We seem to have been suddenly teleported to a new era of transition where career markets are reshaping at an incredibly fast pace never seen before.
With factors cropping up in the wake of Google, Apple, EY, IBM emerging major players in the job market academics are of only secondary importance for the new job profile. Other large corporations are treading the path set by the IT giants. They all are dropping academic degrees as criterion while hiring and this trend is only going to pick up the momentum in days to come.
Top five job opportunities as analysed by World Economic Forum emerged during this decade did exist but marginally. Numerous jobs that existed so far may no longer be needed some years hence.
Parents invest all their savings on education of their children in the hope of better career opportunities for their wards. A child spends 15+ years to learn nuanced information that he/she assumes will come handy in career. We parents and kids together invest so much in the present in the hope of a predictably prosperous future. But alas, it may not be there for them.
The question arises if our education system able to match with the transformation in the career scenario taking place at such a fast pace.
The question has been raised time and again. I dare to reflect on an alarming prospect that lurks not far away. Education system in its present format is unable to meet the demands of times. The way learning is becoming more and more focused with a specific target to achieve and the choice of career people are expected to opt for in the near future gives an insight into the numerous possibilities never seen before.
The time and energy spent on their education by a majority of populations is expected to be marginalised if not rendered irrelevant altogether. With these new possibilities they need newer skills with scope of information, awareness and deep focused skilling taking front seat in these career choices.
Against this backdrop, we need to ask ourselves is our education system prepared to meet the challenge at hand or has simply adopted an ostrich-like policy of waiting for the momentum to catch us unawares.
Focused education, or skilling as I would prefer to call, is the answer to for the future prospects dawning on us. This skilling should have shorter learning curves focused around the career choice a student makes. After all, the stakeholders, both parents and students, have the right to demand the return for the investment they make over 15 years of their lives.
Is our education policy being reframed to bridge the academic-career gap, or are we still in the rat race to follow a pied piper knowing full well where it would lead to?
(The author is a seasoned IT professional with in-depth knowledge and expertise in the field. He is currently working on a concept of transforming education with focused skilling and futuristic advancements through a his venture, Thought Leadership via Kidzpreneur.)
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The opinion expressed in the article is of the writer. Writer is a freelance journalist/journalist based in Delhi
