8+8: Re-imagining high school and the first job

Children go to high school so that they can go to college, and they go to college so that they can learn things that will help them get jobs. This is the prevalent model. Finding jobs is not the only reason to get an education, of course, but it is perhaps the most important one for a lot of people. Especially the poor, who see education as a path out of their poverty. But 3 out of 4 young people do not get their first job because of their education.

Today, out of every 100 young people, no more than 70 take the PU/12th standard exam. About 40 of them pass. Fewer than 25 are in college, and less than 10 or 15 will get a degree. And there are regular news reports that even those who complete their education struggle to get a job. They lack the skills that employers value, no matter what their certificate may say.

This does not mean that young people should stop studying. It just means that education is today not the way most of them get a job. They somehow manage that in their own way, usually involving a lot of struggle. They work whenever they can find a job, usually for low wages. And in whatever position they find, they have very little negotiating power based on skills or other opportunities.

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If we are serious that learning should lead to productive employment. We must ensure more years of education, and we must guarantee fair entry into the job market for all those who complete the full course of learning. Both of these are very doable.

Let’s consider an alternative. I call this approach 8+8. After the eighth grade, students should get into an 8-year programme that ends with a college degree or with a diploma depending on what they study. If they take academic credits, they should get a degree, and if they take up vocational credits, they should get a diploma. And in the final year, they should get apprenticeships for which the government provides a stipend.

When a child ‘passes’ one grade, doing so must lead to an assured opportunity to go to the next level of learning. That is, in fact, how education begins. A child who passes first standard can surely go to second, and one who passes seventh standard can surely go to eighth. But when a student passes 12th standard or PU, they’re not sure of being admitted anywhere to the next level. For this, they have to take exams, and in the process, many are excluded.

That has to change; everyone who successfully completes the 12th year of learning must be able to continue doing so if they want to. If we think of the first year of college as 13th standard, then more young people will naturally pass to that level, too. And onward to 14, 15 and 16 as well. Some may not excel in academic courses, and could choose skilling options, instead. But in one way or another, for anyone who wants to continue learning, some opportunity should be assured.

This will cost money, of course. But it will more than pay for itself. Productive workers and entrepreneurs help the economy grow faster, and that, in turn, fills the coffers of the sarkar faster. Without a proper start, people may be in low-wage jobs all their lives, and also become dependent on government support at different times in their lives.

Helping people get their first job is equally important. For lots of cultural and social reasons, many young people cannot get a job, but they can do many jobs if they somehow got one. There is a simple way to overcome this hurdle -- give them the first job, or give them a job-linked stipend to live while they find their own position. This is especially important for girls, who often cannot travel far from their homes for employment. And employers also will prefer this, since they won’t have to bear any cost of onboarding a fresher.

In a society of high inequality, where millions of families get a weak start, we have to do everything possible to help more of them cross the finish line with strength. 8+8 can do that. It can seem radical, but in fact it should be normal. What is radically wrong is to build an elaborate system that costs hundreds of billions of rupees and then find that it only works for a small percentage of the population.