Plight of Kashmir's highly educated youth in a jobless reality

Just some days ago, a video went viral across social media platforms in which a P.hD scholar was seen selling dry fruits on a cart. Every individual having a mic in his one hand and a smartphone in his second hand was taking interviews from him and posing a series of unnecessary, trivial and worthless questions.

These pseudo-journalists, who are completely devoid of journalistic ethics and whose number is surging with each passing day across every corner of the Valley, were trying to garner wide viewership and inviting comments on an issue which is shattering the dreams of thousands of highly qualified and passionate individuals of this region who have burnt their midnight oil only to see themselves earning an honourable livelihood and living a respectable life in their later years.

This video was made viral within minutes and every Tom, Dick and Harry passed comments without realizing the pain these people have been enduring for years after completing their research degrees.

Passing degree after degree and qualifying myriad of exams have left them desperate, hopeless, dejected and downhearted. The degrees, which are in their possession, depict their diligent hard work and a big investment of their parents whose only motive had been to give their children a better education and make them able to earn a decent living.

However, due to meagre opportunities in the government sector and tough competition for every job, they are finding themselves in traumatic conditions where they are unable to understand what to do. Their life has become onerous and arduous, they are considered a burden even by their own family members.

After failing to grab a government job, these highly qualified youth are caught in a tricky situation and spending most of their precious time and years in gaining these qualifications has rendered them to rely on doing some odd jobs like selling dry fruits on a cart, initiating a dairy farm or doing any other business.

Gaining a P.hD degree after strenuous efforts from a university and qualifying the NET or SET—the eligibility exams for lecturership in a college and university—must have ensured a research scholar's job in an educational institution at a teaching position, but due to limited resources and finite avenues, even these highly qualified research scholar's are opting for inapt and ill-suited jobs. Sometimes, the situation takes so ugly a turn that they take an extreme step.

Opting for contractual jobs in colleges and universities is further worsening their condition rather than encouraging them to embrace this somewhat prestigious job. There are many reasons behind this. Lack of job security, disparities in the monthly salaries being paid to them in colleges and universities against what UGC has set in its guidelines and norms and assigning them extra workload in the workplace etc.

After spending years in these educational institutions to impart education and training thousands of students, a contractual lecturer's own future is put at risk because neither there is any policy of absorbing this talented and hardworking workforce in these colleges against vacant positions nor he is given any other grace point to enable him get a job in another department.

Their melancholic tales don't end here, but some of them have old-aged parents to look after and few are married too. The meagre amount paid to them can't bring a minuscule smile to their faces. It becomes tougher for them to manage with each passing day as inflation is touching the skies every other day.

After applying for contractual jobs, only a fixed lot gets an opportunity to work on ad-hoc basis in colleges and universities while the rest of them opt for other jobs. Talking about unemployment isn't the issue of P.hD scholars only, our big chunk of qualified youth are working in private schools too on peanut salaries.

The story doesn't end here rather a big proportion of professionally trained youth are also jobless who roam from pillar to post to get work. From our colleges and universities, an army of unemployed pass-outs are produced each year which adds to the already unemployed kitty of the UT.

To address this issue, the newly introduced NEP 2020 stresses learning skill-based courses while in schools and colleges. It won't transform the system overnight, however, if given a positive direction and implemented judiciously, it can do wonders to redress this grave issue.

The gravity of this problem can be acknowledged by the fact that number of applicants applying is more than a hundred times the number of advertised posts every time when notifications are issued by the recruiting agencies. It is challenging for the authorities to conduct the exams for various advertised posts.

To overcome this growing problem and suggest a lasting solution, every stakeholder including the authorities at the helm must come forward at the earliest to safeguard the future of our educated youth as it becomes challenging for them to tie the nuptial even in their 30s.

Late marriages are becoming a norm now due to this overgrowing issue of our youth. So, we shouldn't act as buffoons and jesters upon seeing them doing some peculiar and eccentric jobs rather we must encourage, inspire and uplift them. It will surely impact them in a positive, pragmatic and productive manner.

This post first appeared on The Kashmir Pulse