Reuters

Crammed into a classroom in the Indian city of Prayagaraj, students listen attentively as a teacher discusses mathematical formulas on a digital screen.The students spend hours cramming for a variety of exams, including the prestigious civil services exam, in which passing it is needed to get a job as a federal government bureaucrat.The trend underscores cultural and economic anxieties facing many Indians.Despite living in the world’s fastest-growing major economy, many are grappling with an uncertain employment market where job opportunities, let alone job security, are hard to come by. Many see government employment as more secure than private-sector jobs in the world&#x27;s most populous nation.Nearly 5 million students applied for 60,000 vacancies in the Uttar Pradesh police force earlier this year and an exam for the post of constable in central government security agencies saw 4.7 million applicants for 26,000 posts.For Maroof Ahmed, who has been running a cram school in Prayagraj since 2014, this demand has meant good business. Currently, he says, his academy has five branches, tutoring close to 25,000–30,000 students a year through physical and online classes.Success rates, or those who procure jobs, are low at about 5–10%, but demand remains high, he said.No data was available on the number of such coaching institutes across the country since much of the industry is informal and unorganised.Sunil Kumar, a 30-year-old, has spent the last 9 years of his life chasing a job in the Indian government. He has also tried for a provincial civil services post and two other tests for lower level government positions, but been unsuccessful. He has been unsuccessful in 13 attempts to get a job.A resident of Uttar Pradesh, the country&#x27;s most populous state, Kumar says he will continue to try for a government job until he turns 32, a few years short of the official age limit of 35 to enter the civil service.&quot;There is more security in government jobs,&quot; said Kumar. &quot;I would not have wasted eight to 10 years of my life otherwise.&quot;According to government figures, 220 million people applied for federal jobs between 2014-2022, of whom 722,000 were selected. Many of those would have been repeat attempts, but still, tens of millions of young Indians chase government jobs every year even though the economy is booming and the private sector is expanding.For 22-year old Pradeep Gupta, who hopes to land a government job, working in the private sector is the &quot;last option&quot;.“In government jobs, we get our salaries on time and we have less work.”

Crammed into a classroom in the Indian city of Prayagaraj, students listen attentively as a teacher discusses mathematical formulas on a digital screen.

Crammed into a classroom in the Indian city of Prayagaraj, students listen attentively as a teacher discusses mathematical formulas on a digital screen.

India's youth flock to cram schools in hope of securing government jobs | ABS-CBN

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India's youth flock to cram schools in hope of securing government jobs

Reuters

Published Jul 22, 2024 12:18 AM PHT

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