PTI By

It seems formal education in India is not imparting enough skills to students as nearly half of the graduates of this year were found unemployable for any job, according to a study.

The study identified the key employability trends of 2013 and the most striking one was that a significant proportion of graduates of 2013, nearly 47 per cent, were found unemployable in any sector, given their English language and cognitive skills, said Aspiring Minds, a leading employability solutions company.

Meanwhile according to a survey 8.5 lakh new jobs are expected across various sectors, including FMCG and healthcare.

Of all the respondents in the survey, only 2.59 per cent of them was found employable in functional roles such as accounting, while 15.88 per cent was suitable for employment in sales related roles and 21.37 per cent for roles in the business process outsourcing sector, a report by Aspiring Minds said.

It said more females are pursuing three-year degree courses and when it comes to employability they are similar or higher suited than males.

There are 109 males to every 100 females in three-year degree programmes, it said.

Lack of English knowledge, poor skills in computer and concepts learning were major deterrents to employability.

Poor knowledge of English and inadequate computer skills dampen employability prospects in smaller towns significantly, the report said, adding that for students residing or studying in smaller towns and cities (tier 2 or tier 3), the maximum gap is observed in English and computer skills.

Moreover, not more than 25 per cent of the graduating students could apply concepts to solve a real-world problem in the domain of finance and accounting, while, on average, 50 per cent graduates are able to answer definition-based/ theoretical questions based on the same concept.

The report noted that around 41 per cent of graduates employable in accounting roles hail from colleges beyond the top 30 per cent colleges, whereas for the IT services sector this percentage is 36 per cent.