Degrees are no longer enough, skills matter more for India's youth, says PM Modi

A college degree may get a young person started, but is it enough to stay ahead in a rapidly changing job market?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a clear message for India's youth: skills matter too.

Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi has shared a video of PM Modi highlighting how the world of work is changing and why young people need to keep upgrading their capabilities.

The message comes as employers increasingly look for skills that can be applied beyond what is written on a degree certificate.

In the video shared by Joshi, PM Modi says that the needs of the world are changing and so is the way people learn.

"Earlier, the focus was on degrees; today, skills matter equally," PM Modi



says.

His message is not that degrees have become irrelevant. Rather, formal education needs to be accompanied by skills that can keep pace with changing technology, industries and workplaces.

The Prime Minister also stresses the need for young people to continuously upgrade their skills instead of treating education as something that ends with graduation.

That shift is particularly relevant for students entering a job market where the skills demanded by employers can change much faster than traditional university curriculam.

For students, the message is fairly simple.

A degree can show what you studied.

The skills you build after that can show what you can actually do.