Gap Between Certificates and Competence: Structural Analysis of the “Skill Gap” among Nepali Students
In Nepal’s education and employment sectors, a strange and paradoxical situation exists. On one side, thousands of young people who cannot find work in the domestic market are queuing at the Department of Passports and at Tribhuvan International Airport; we call this “unemployment.” On the other side, Nepali industrialists, business owners and employers are complaining that “we have not found the kind of people we are looking for.” There is a shortage of relationship managers in banks, a drought of competent developers in IT companies, and it is difficult to find site engineers or skilled overseers in the construction sector.
When there are people searching for jobs and workplaces with vacancies, yet the two are not meeting, where is the problem? The answer is the “skill gap,” that is, the absence of skills.
This article analyses the lack of skills seen among Nepali students not only as an individual weakness of students, but as a “structural problem” arising from an educational system that has been rigid for decades, from social psychology, and from policy failures.
What Is the “Skill Gap”? Its Definition in the Nepali Context
In general terms, the gap between the competencies employers expect from employees (required skills) and the actual abilities possessed by the available workforce (actual skills) is called the “skill gap.”
In Nepal, this needs to be understood more deeply. The skill gap here can be classified into two main parts:
(a) Lack of Technical Skills (Hard Skills Gap)
This refers to the ability to perform work related to one’s own field of study.
Example 1 (Management)
A student who has completed BBS (Bachelor of Business Studies) or BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) has studied the theory of the audit report, but does not know how to enter vouchers in Tally software or how to create a pivot table in Excel.
Example 2 (Engineering/IT)
A student who has completed computer engineering has memorised the syntax of C programming, but cannot run even a small project in Python, React or cloud computing, which are widely used in the market.
Example 3 (Agriculture)
A student who has studied B.Sc. Ag (Bachelor of Science in Agriculture) reads about soil pH values in books, but in the field cannot teach a farmer how much fertiliser to use and for which crop.
(b) Lack of Practical Skills (Soft Skills Gap)
This dimension is the weakest and most neglected in Nepal. Employers’ common complaints lie here.
Communication
There is an acute lack of email etiquette, report writing skills and appropriate ways of speaking with clients among our students.
Problem solving
Many students can perform routine jobs, but when a new problem arises, they panic and do not try to find a solution.
Teamwork
Because our system is designed around studying alone and taking examinations individually, habits of working together in groups have not developed.
Root of the Problem: Why Has This Situation Emerged? (Root Causes Analysis)
The existing system plays a greater role than the students themselves in the lack of skills. This can be viewed under five main causes:
Curriculum and Market Demand in Conflict (Curriculum Mismatch)
The speed at which Nepal’s universities (especially the large universities) revise their curricula is like that of a tortoise, whereas the pace of the global market and technology is like that of a rocket.
We are still teaching case studies that are 10–15 years old.
There is hardly any meaningful collaboration between the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the universities in curriculum development. There is no practice of asking industry what kind of human resources it needs. As a result, universities are teaching “history,” while industry needs “the future.”
Teaching Method: “Ghokante Bidya” (Pedagogy of Rote Learning)
The very structure of our classroom is a barrier to skill development.
Teacher-centred method
Teachers come, deliver lectures, dictate notes and leave. The students’ job is only to listen and copy.
Questions discouraged
Students who ask “Why did this happen?” or “Can this be done in another way or not?” are silenced with remarks such as “Do not act as if you know too much” or “Do not ask questions outside the syllabus.” This kills the development of “critical thinking” from childhood.
Evaluation System (Examination System)
A three- or four-hour written examination decides the outcome of 10–15 years of a student’s investment.
This system tests not “how much one has understood” but “how much one has memorised” (memory power).
Those who cram guides and guess papers the night before the examination and pass are considered “excellent.” Those who understand the subject but cannot memorise are deemed failures. There are no metrics in our examination system to assess skills and creativity.
Lack of Infrastructure and Investment
To learn skills, laboratories, workshops and modern equipment are necessary.
In most government and community campuses, science labs, computer labs and workshops exist only in name. The equipment that is available is often broken or gathering dust.
Private colleges charge high fees but do not invest in research and development (R&D).
Social and Family Psychology
Nepali society values “position” and “certificates” more than “skills.”
A plumber or electrician with practical skills may earn fifty thousand rupees a month, yet society calls him “mistri.” But a “kharidar” (non-gazetted government clerk) or an assistant who earns twenty thousand rupees a month is considered a respectable person.
Due to this fascination with “white collar jobs,” students are reluctant to move towards technical and vocational education (TVET). Everyone wants a master’s degree, but no one wants to become a master craftsperson.
Effects of the Lack of Skills (The Impact of the Skill Gap)
The effects of this problem are multidimensional:
(a) Unemployment and Under-employment
Students who have completed degrees are forced to remain unemployed or to work in jobs that are far below their qualifications. The fact that people with PhDs or M.Phils are applying for clerk or peon positions is a vivid example of this.
(b) Decline in Productivity (Low Productivity)
When companies cannot find skilled human resources, they are forced to compromise on their production capacity and quality. This negatively affects the country’s overall economic growth rate (GDP).
(c) Foreign Employment and “Brain Drain”
Young people are migrating abroad because they either do not get opportunities to learn skills in Nepal or the skills they have acquired are not valued. The sad reality is that a young person who has completed a bachelor’s degree here is compelled to work as a labourer (unskilled worker) in the Gulf countries. If that person had technical skills in Nepal, they would have received higher pay even abroad.
(d) Dependency
For large projects such as hydropower plants, tunnels and airports, we still have to rely on foreign technicians and engineers. Due to the lack of practical knowledge among domestic engineers, the state is compelled to spend large sums of money on foreign consultants.
The Role of Students: Are Students Also at Fault?
Students cannot escape by placing all the blame on the system. At present, there has been a “democratisation of information.” The internet is within everyone’s reach.
Lack of proactivity
Many students think that what the college teaches is the final truth. They do not take the trouble to search for and study online courses (Coursera, Udemy, edX, YouTube) on their own.
Digital addiction
The internet is used more as a “tool for entertainment” than as a “tool for learning.” Students who spend hours on TikTok and short video reels say they cannot spare even ten minutes a day to learn a new skill. This is their personal weakness.
Tendency to look for an easy way
While doing theses or project work, instead of conducting their own research, students prefer to copy seniors’ work or buy ready-made projects from the market. This is like striking an axe on their own feet.
Practical Measures for Solutions (Problem Solving Approach)
After understanding the depth of the problem, the focus must now be on solutions. To solve this problem, an “integrated approach” is needed.
Reforms at Policy and University Level
Modernisation of curricula
Curricula should be revised every three to four years. Industrialists, employers and subject experts must be compulsorily included in curriculum committees.
Internships within credit hours
At least the last six months (one semester) should be a mandatory full-time internship or on-the-job training (OJT). This should not be implemented merely for attendance, but marks should be awarded on the basis of the evaluation done by the industry.
Learning by doing
In science, technology and management subjects, the weightage should be maintained at 40 percent theory and 60 percent practical work.
Changes in Teaching Methods
Case studies and project work
Instead of rote-based questions, questions should be designed around problem solving.
Training for teachers
Teachers themselves should be given continuous refresher training on new technologies and teaching methods. If teachers are not updated, how will students be updated?
Cooperation Between Industry and Education (Industry–Academia Linkage)
Guest lectures
CEOs, engineers and managers from corporate houses should be invited once a month to colleges to share their experiences. This helps students build a bridge between “book knowledge” and “practical knowledge.”
Incubation centres
Colleges should establish incubation centres to turn students’ new ideas into businesses.
Improvements Students Must Make Themselves (Self-Learning)
Focus on soft skills
Students should participate in extracurricular activities (ECA) to improve their communication, leadership and teamwork abilities.
Use of digital platforms
YouTube and Google should be used not only for entertainment, but also to learn new software, languages and to understand global trends.
Networking
Students should develop the habit of connecting with experts in their field through platforms such as LinkedIn and learning from them.
Role of the State and Parents
Dignity of labour
A culture that respects labour must be developed. The mentality that considers technical education as “second-class” education should end.
Expansion of CTEVT
The programmes of the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) should be revised according to market demand and made widely accessible.
Lessons from Global Practice (Global Examples)
We can learn from Germany’s “dual education system” (dual VET system). In Germany, students attend school or college for two days a week and work in the relevant industry for three days (apprenticeship). By the time they complete their studies, they have both a degree and three years of work experience.
Similarly, the “Skill India” campaign in neighbouring India has made millions of young people employable by providing short-term skill-based training. It is already late for Nepal to launch a similar “national skill development campaign.”
Special Suggestions (Actionable Tips for Readers/Students)
If you are a student and you are reading this article, start the following three actions from today:
Analyse your interests and market demand
Identify which skills related to your field of study have higher demand in the market (for example: digital marketing, data analysis, graphic design).
Learn online
Do not depend only on your college. Spend 30 minutes to one hour daily studying online courses or tutorials and learning something new.
Start with small work
Do not hesitate to do small jobs, volunteering or internships for the sake of experience. At the beginning, focus more on “gaining experience” than on earning money.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the issue of “lack of skills among Nepali students” is not only an educational issue; it is linked to the backbone of the national economy and development.
Nepali students are not incapable. There is no problem in their “genes.” The problem lies in the “scene,” that is, in the environment and the system. If Nepali students can succeed in the highly competitive markets of Australia or America, why can they not succeed in Nepal? Because those systems compel them to learn skills and they value the skills that have been learned.
The way forward is a shift from “certificate-oriented” education towards “result-oriented” and “skill-oriented” education. Until students graduating from universities leave with a degree in one hand and a marketable skill in the other, neither will unemployment be reduced nor will the country’s prosperity be possible.
To bridge this gap, six actors—students, teachers, parents, universities, industry and the government—must work together. The time for blaming one another and stepping aside is over.
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