India’s unemployment statistics mask an equally pressing issue: employability. According to the India Skills Report 2025 by CII, only about 54.81% of Indian graduates are considered employable by industry standards. Many young people earn degrees but lack the soft skills, digital familiarity, and workplace etiquette needed for formal sector jobs. Scholarship programs need to integrate employability modules into their design by including communication workshops, group discussions, mock interviews, and career bootcamps alongside academic studies.

Exposure to real work environments through internships, site visits, and industry projects are equally essential. As the National Education Policy 2020 and various CSR frameworks have emphasized, skilling and employability are not the sole responsibility of the education system. Industry has a vital role to play, in curriculum alignment, in internships and apprenticeships, and in mentorship. Engineering scholars, for instance, can benefit from mentorship by practicing professionals, technical workshops hosted by industry leaders, and real-time projects that simulate workplace challenges.

These partnerships also help students build realistic expectations. They learn what a career path looks like, what skills matter, and what habits distinguish an employee from a job-seeker.

These interventions are not just “add-ons”; they’re transformative. For instance, Vaishnavi, a vocational scholar from Mumbai recounts how her first exposure to an office setting, through a brief internship, changed her self-perception entirely. “Until then, I never thought someone like me could work in a place like that,” she says. “Now I know I can.”

This shift from classroom confidence to career confidence is essential if India is to bridge the gap between education and employment. It also underlines the need for deeper collaboration between educational institutions, scholarship providers, and the private sector.