Perception of Agricultural Students and Agro-professionals towards Agricultural Education and Skill Development in India: Connect and Disconnect
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Abstract
India is entering in phase of demographic dividend. Presently, India has more than 50 per cent of its population within the
age group of 15 to 59 and 28 percent of population in age group of 15-29. Furthermore, by 2020, more than 65 percent of
Indian population will be under working age group. Manpower availability in agricultural sector indicated that more than
12000 agricultural graduates pass out from the state agricultural universities (SAUs) all over the country every year, of
which only 2000 find job in private and public sector, leaving a huge number of graduates unemployed. This agricultural
demographic dividend may become an asset as well as liability for Indian agriculture, depending upon the extent of skill
development among agricultural students. For capturing perception of agricultural students, data has been gathered from
100 agricultural students comprising from State Agricultural Universities, MANAGE and ICAR-IARI. To analyze the
perception of agro-professionals, 25 Kisan Call Centre level- I graduate employees and 25 agro entrepreneur were
interviewed. The present study has analyzed the existing perception of agricultural students and agro-professionals
towards agricultural education and skill development in India. Respondents have shown high importance level towards
core employability skills, professional skills and communication skills however respondents perceived that the
implementation level of core employability skills, professional skills and communication skills in Indian agricultural
education system is low. Skill gap analysis has shown that there is high skill gap in four core employability skills (team
work, entrepreneurship, practical application and self-motivation), three professional skills (creativity, problem solving
ability and statistical competence) and three communication skills (verbal communication, non-verbal communication
and technical writing) and these skills needs to be given more importance in agricultural education system in India.
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Copyright (c) 2015 Indian Society of Extension Education, Division of Agricultural ExtensionICAR- IARI, New Delhi

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