Keywords
Employability
Psychosocial
Viksit Bharat
NEP 2020
Social-Emotional Learning
How to Cite
Abstract
India’s national aspiration, Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047, envisions a future characterized by robust economic growth, technological leadership, and profound social well-being (Mukhopadhyay & Mukhopadhyay 2025). Achieving this holistic transformation necessitates a systemic shift in the educational paradigm, moving beyond the development of technical proficiency to prioritize the cultivation of psychosocial employability. This article employs the psychosocial construct of employability proposed by Fugate, Kinicki, and Ashforth (2004), integrated within Human Capital Theory and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) frameworks, to analyze the requisite educational reforms to fulfill the vision of Viksit Bharat. In 21st century, psychosocial employability and soft skill trainings are as important as other skills (Tushar & Sooraksa, 2023). Empirical evidence highlights the urgent economic cases which are necessary for developed India. Soft skills training has been shown to boost worker productivity by 13.5% (Adhvaryu et al., 2023), yielding a net return to firms of 256% (Adhvaryu, et al., 2023). Conversely, the failure to address the skill deficit results in alarming rates of mental health issues, including anxiety (61.8%) and depression (54.4%) among educated, unemployed youth (Biswas et al., 2024). While the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 mandates the integration of these skills, critical implementation barriers exist, notably the resistance to pedagogical change, insufficient funding (Kaur, 2024), and significant challenges related to the psychometric validity of proposed 360-degree holistic assessments (Nowack & Mashihi, 2012). The analysis concludes that strategic, sustained educational reforms, focused on rigorous teacher training and curriculum integration informed by international models, are essential to unlock the demographic dividend and establish psychosocial resilience as the non-negotiable foundation of Viksit Bharat.
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