Sajjid Hussain had to walk 5 km every day from his Korali village and take a shared phatphati (motorcycle rickshaw) to reach his college in Nuh, Mewat, to study BCom.

The son of a driver, he had hoped that after completing his studies he would be able to land a decent office-based job in Gurugram. He applied to several companies but the standard reply every time was “We are not interested in local youth”, he says.

Is it because his medium of instruction was not English or, with the crime graph rising among them, the youth from the region are not a preferred lot? Or is it the poor quality of education that has been imparted or sheer discrimination, as some allege?

Sajjid is not sure what the reason is, nor keen to go into it. “I desperately want a job, can you help me,” he asks. Despite the rejections, the young graduate continues to apply for jobs. To top up his qualification he is studying for a diploma in computers. “My father has to shell out ₹800 as fee every month and ₹30 a day for the transport cost,” he says.

Sajjid is just one among a large number of hopefuls who find that even being educated has not paid off. Anphas Ahmed, for instance, has both a degree in commerce and a diploma in computers, but has failed to get a response from any of the Gurugram companies he applied to.

There are several graduates and even postgraduates in Karoli village who have failed to get employment and are either sitting idle or working as daily wagers. Realising that a college degree may not fetch them jobs, many youngsters in the village are getting trained in various skills at the ITIs (industrial training institutes) in the region.

Taleem, for instance, has done a two-year course from ITI Sohna to become an electrician. Currently he is assisting his brother, who too is an electrician. But Taleem says he would still prefer to work with a company, as they pay well. Munsad, who got trained as a plumber from ITI Nagina in Mewat, also wants to work for a company.

“It is unfortunate that youth from outside are being preferred over the locals,” says Omar Mohammed, who was formerly the School Management Committee Chairman of the government primary school at Korali. At the same time, he admits that youth from Mewat are ill-equipped to compete with outsiders.

“Poor quality of education due to the rampant absenteeism of teachers is one of the main reasons that youth from our region fail to make the grade. There are no dearth of jobs in Gurugram.”

The school was upgraded to middle level over five years ago, but not a single teacher has been appointed for that, he says. “Even otherwise the school is closed frequently because the teachers who hail from far-off places in Haryana go on furloughs or long leave. We do report to the authorities and action has been taken against some of the teachers, but the situation remains unchanged,” he says in dismay.

A recent government analysis, sponsored by the research division of Niti Ayog, also shows that Mewat has the fewest number of teachers beyond the primary level.

Concurring with this, Jan Mohammed, Chairman of the Middle School Management Committee, says that despite the low literacy rate, parents in the region do not take an interest in the education of their children.

Due to teacher absenteeism and vacancies in government schools, especially at the high school level, Mewat has a massive number of dropouts. Many students fail to even get the minimum educational requirement to be trained in ITIs, says Jan Mohammed.

Out of 1.62 lakh primary students only 48,000 reached middle school and 9,000 class XI last year.

Lack of industries and poor agricultural yield together account for the high rate of unemployment in the region.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

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