The Relationship of Education and Income Inequality in India
At Turn the Bus, our mission is to reduce income inequality sustainably by reducing educational inequality with the help of smartphones. Having said that, we also need to establish the connection between education and income inequality in India. While talking about whether education is necessary to combat income inequality, we get a lot of varied responses. Some say that education can solve a spectrum of issues and is necessary for human dignity, empowerment and so on, and therefore we must not get too hung up about its connection to income. And some others say that it is useless to solve the education issue without paying attention to livelihood. It also often becomes difficult at a practical level to show the benefits of education towards the question of livelihood.
???????????Let us start with income inequality. India has the highest youth population in the world, with around 60% of its total population comprising young people[1]. Therefore, it makes sense for us to focus on them to solve the income inequality problem of the country. Through providing them with the right tools to navigate the future workforce and earn a stable and sustainable career for themselves we can make sure that there is a gradual decrease in income inequality. Therefore, we need to make sure that we are equipping our students with the right skills that they need in the workforce of the future.
Working backwards, then, when we talk about education, we need to make sure that the students are opting for the right courses that will provide them with the useful skills for joining the workforce. With a strong primary and secondary educational background, the students can then move on to more specialized schooling in technical and vocational courses. This then can help them attain a more sustainable and stable source of income throughout their life. Therefore, the education that we provide to these students should have a focus on market-aligned skill building.
The government has also recognized this and through the NEP 2020[2], has refocused on the importance of vocational education. According to the NEP 2020, learners should be provided with vocational expertise through the course of their higher secondary education. Every child should learn at least one vocational skill. These skills will include things like technical skills, entrepreneurship skills, agricultural expertise and so on.
Young people with a strong educational foundation are able to choose different skill-based areas to specialize in, which in turn helps create a more diverse workforce. Workers with specialized degrees are also paid more than those without. Through entrepreneurial training we can all make sure that they are able to create individual, and profitable entrepreneurships for themselves, or operate in a larger company in an entrepreneurial way.?So, education helps improve the workforce, and the wages and livelihood of the worker.
We believe that education is a long-term solution to the problem of income inequality. Instead of providing temporary economic relief, it acts as an investment towards the future development of the economy. Education can provide more practical solutions to the problem of livelihood and income inequality, apart from its ability of empowerment (though of course, human dignity, empowerment and confidence are also significantly correlated with a high quality education – and that is excellent).
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