By 2020, India will have the world’s largest working population–869 million–but an IndiaSpend analysis of indicators on literacy, school enrolment, learning outcomes, and education spending across four states–with 43.6% of India’s school-age population between the ages of five and 14–revealed that India is unprepared to educate and train its young population.

Overall, India’s literacy rate has increased 8.66 percentage points to 74.04%, between 2001 and 2011, according to Census data, but wide variations exist across ...