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Winston Mok
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Winston Mok

How India’s government can be a good parent to its young people

While recent protests were triggered by irregularities in the national medical entrance exam, the quality of education more broadly warrants attention

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Indian Youth Congress party workers hold placards featuring India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan during a protest over the alleged national medical school entrance exam irregularities, in Mumbai on June 2. In July, Pradhan announced his resignation after countrywide protests. Photo: AFP
Winston Mok
Winston Mok, a private investor, was previously a private equity investor.
The resignation of Indian education minister Dharmendra Pradhan last month, yielding to pressure from the “cockroach” youth protests, was an example of democracy in action.

Outraged over the leaking of the medical school entrance exam question paper, protesters, led by a group calling itself the Cockroach Janata Party, demanded accountability and reforms. At least 20 young people had taken their own lives after a retest for the medical entrance exam was announced, underlining how such exams have become life-or-death affairs, providing many young people with a rare chance of economic security in India’s hypercompetitive job market.

In both India and China, education is often a key pathway to social mobility. In social systems with perceived inequalities, fair admissions to elite higher education institutions are a safety valve for social discontent. Undermining that valve led to predictable social consequences in India.

The hard part comes now. Fixing India’s education system is an intractable challenge. It is also foundational to realising the potential of a country with a vast youth population. Unlike China’s ageing population and declining workforce, India has a growing working-age population. That demographic difference, however, does not automatically give India an economic edge over China. A young population can be an asset or a liability, depending on whether young people are well trained and can get decent jobs.

In the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests for 15-year-olds in mathematics, science and reading, Singapore and East Asian economies have consistently ranked at the top. East Asian economic successes have been built on human capital development.

In the 2022 Pisa test results, Singapore, which has often been the top performer, led the world again. In 2018, when China’s regions of Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang and Jiangsu were assessed, they narrowly beat Singapore.

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