New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS) Youth from several Indian states are "not educated enough for employment" as per the market demand, a study released Saturday said.
The findings also indicated that "most youth were neither adequately educated nor equipped with vocational skills".
"Just two in every five young men (40 percent) and one in every three young women (33 percent) had completed secondary education...(and) one in every 12 young men and one in four young women had never been to school at all in the country," said the study conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The study titled 'Youth in India: Situation and Needs' assessed the situation of youth in six states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu - between 2006 and 2008, involving over 58,000 youths in the age group of 15-29 years.
Around 44-52 percent of men and 36-48 percent of women in Maharashtra and the southern states of Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu had completed 10 or more years of education, compared to 30-38 percent of men and 13-18 percent of women from the other states.
"Basic education can be very important in helping people to get jobs and gainful employment. This connection, while always present, is particularly critical in a rapidly globalising world in which quality control and production according to strict specification can be crucial," Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said at the release of the study.
Around 56 percent of men and 68 percent of women surveyed were interested in acquiring vocational skills to help employability.
The study was carried out by the Population Council, Delhi, and International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai.