In less than a month, the country will have a new government. In the current election, 40 million new voters have become eligible to vote. The new voters, including those who are below 35 years, constitute almost 65 per cent of the total population. There will, therefore, be a lot of expectations that the youth will have from the new government.

Time and again, all political parties have, in their election manifestos, espoused the cause of poverty elimination. But very little has been achieved so far, except for what normally would have been achieved due to the overall economic growth. Apart from poverty, the perception of corruption at all levels is really widespread among the younger generation. They are growing up to find that they have entered or are entering a world where denial of justice is the norm and that one has to oblige people to even get their legitimate rights as citizens of this country.

Achieving universal education is guaranteed in our Constitution. However, the said universal education has failed to deliver any educational value among the youth. Millions of primary schools, which have been set up at the cost of the public exchequer, are lying defunct. Middle and high school education is also suffering on account of the large number of drop-outs each year. There is no institutional framework in place to monitor the academic progress of boys and girls and track whether the education received by them has made them employable.

The ministry of human resource development (HRD) supervises the entire agenda of education in the country. All universities, technical and medical colleges, in one way or the other, are under the ambit of the HRD ministry. In spite of allowing new universities to come up in the private sector, successive education ministers have only created roadblocks, primarily to retain their control over them rather than allow enhancement of educational facilities.

As it is, students who come from a poor economic background cannot afford the cost of college and university education. However, there are huge unfulfilled aspirations even among those who can afford to pay but are not able to get admission. Private colleges, in spite of higher fees than the government-owned ones, do offer opportunities to the very best of students. But those with an average academic performance find it difficult to get admission in any college, be it in the government or private sector. On a rough estimate, each year five million students are in a position to pursue higher studies but because of their failure to secure admission, are forced to settle for an underpaid opportunity in the job market.

It is my belief that there is no lack of opportunity in finding a job if the candidate is reasonably qualified. Unemployment seems more pronounced because there are a large number of unemployable people in the country. India, in spite of the ongoing economic slowdown, will still grow and there is going to be substantial demand for qualified manpower.

The new government, therefore, will need to make the HRD ministry more responsive. In the past two years, one of the tall leaders of the ruling party was accommodated as a senior HRD minister. In fact, instead of choosing a minister who sets the agenda for the future, this critical ministry has always been handed over to a claimant for a cabinet post rather than to the most progressive member of a party.

The new government must give education its rightful place. The country cannot grow without the cumulative talent of the people engaged in different vocations, and this talent can only be multiplied if there are opportunities for the youth to achieve their optimum.

Broadly, children in India are considered bright, as can be seen by their academic performance in foreign universities. If such opportunities are made available to a substantial mass of our children, the country’s growth can take a quantum leap.

In five years of the new government, the country can be transformed by improving the educational infrastructure. This singular effort, possibly, is the most needed and can yield better results than any monetary or fiscal policy can.

Let’s hope the new government will take up the cause of education.

The writer is chairman, Ambuja cements and Ambuja cement foundation