Millions of Young Indians Struggle as Education Fails to Guarantee Jobs

Growing competition for university seats and postgraduate jobs is leaving young Indians with little faith that hard work alone will bring success.

The NEET Struggle

Nineteen-year-old Mohammad Faiz spends his days studying at a private coaching center in Delhi, far from his family. This year, he sat for the medical school entrance exam known as NEET along with more than two million other students. Despite doing well, he missed out on one of the roughly 60,000 spots at government medical colleges because the competition is so fierce. His four siblings all hold degrees in business or science, but none have found stable jobs and instead help out in their father's grocery shop in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Development economist Amir Ullah Khan notes that when the education system loses credibility, young people are forced to lower their expectations in a mismatch known as an economic low equilibrium.

High Costs and Protests

Shradha Gupta secured a government medical college seat after five years of preparation and four failed attempts, studying twelve to fifteen hours daily. Frequent test cancellations, cheating scandals, and high-stakes pressure have pushed students to their limits. Frustrated youth recently took to the streets through the Cockroach Janta Party movement, demanding accountability and successfully prompting the education minister to step down on July 25. The group has since launched a grassroots campaign to inspect local government schools and demand better conditions.

Context

India has the world's largest youth population, with about 365 million people aged fifteen to twenty-nine. When the rapid growth of young people pursuing higher education outpaces the creation of matching jobs, it creates widespread graduate unemployment. This systemic gap between academic qualifications and market realities fuels broader social and political protests across the country.