From Education to Employability: Preparing South Asia's Youth for Sustainable Livelihoods

South Asia is home to the largest share of the world’s youth. With 48 percent of its population below the age of 24, South Asia’s youth offer the potential to drive its economies to be more vibrant and productive. Yet... [ view full abstract ]

South Asia is home to the largest share of the world’s youth. With 48 percent of its population below the age of 24, South Asia’s youth offer the potential to drive its economies to be more vibrant and productive. Yet optimism over the region’s so-called demographic dividend is tempered by questions about whether existing education systems are adequately preparing young people to make the leap from education to a 21st century world of work.

While significant progress has been made towards achieving universal primary education, education systems in South Asia are fraught with many challenges ranging from deficient resources and poor quality to rising instability and conflict. In the interim, facing pressure to enable their growing youth populations to find work on the one hand, and to supply their changing and growing industries with workers on the other, governments are instituting vocational training programs. There is clearly a need for skills development, but it cannot be a substitute for all that basic education provides. Education and skills training systems must form a continuum with education laying the foundation for a deeper development of vocational skills, and on the job training to ultimately improve employment outcomes and generate sustainable livelihoods. 

As envisaged by the Sustainable Development Goals, there is an urgent need to bridge the worlds of education and employment in order to harness the huge potential of youth. Just Jobs Network in partnership with UNICEF has completed this study which provides a comprehensive mapping of the secondary education and skills sector alongside analysing key trends that affect education and labour market outcomes.  The study concludes with a set of recommendations for policy, domestic financing and public-private partnership; possible interventions in schools and alternative learning pathways; and suggestions for expanding the evidence base on the nexus of education, skills and employability.