Chief Secretary Sentiyanger Imchen addressing a one-day consultative seminar on ‘Emerging Trends: Introduction and Realising Potential’, organised by the Department of Higher & Technical Education on October 30. (Inset) A section of the gathering attending the seminar. (DIPR Photo)
• Unemployment at 7.3%, double the national rate: PLFS 2026
• Government jobs saturated as NSSB, NPSC recruitment falls to 589 in 2025
Kohima, October 30 (MExN): The higher and technical education system in Nagaland is grappling with a critical skills gap and high unemployment, with 92% of residents lacking formal vocational or technical education, Chief Secretary Sentiyanger Imchen said on Friday.
Addressing a one-day consultative seminar on ‘Emerging Trends: Introduction and Realising Potential’, organised by the Department of Higher & Technical Education at the Conference Hall of the Department of Information Technology & Communication here, Imchen said the State was facing a paradox where many university graduates possess theoretical knowledge but remain unemployed due to a lack of practical skills required by employers.
As per the DIPR report, he noted that for decades, global education systems had maintained a strict hierarchy in which academic tracks leading to universities were considered prestigious, while vocational tracks leading to trades were viewed as secondary, an emphasis that created the skills gap now confronting the State.
Citing the ‘Unemployment, Skill and Migration in Nagaland 2025’ report, he said 78% of workers in the State had no prior work experience, highlighting a critical gap between theoretical academic learning and practical job-market readiness.
Referring to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), March 2026, he said the unemployment rate in India for the 15–59 age group stood at 3.5%, compared to 7.3% in Nagaland. Youth unemployment among those aged 15–29 stood at 9.9% nationally, compared to 17.5% in the State.
Noting that government jobs had become saturated, he said recruitment into State Government services through the NSSB and NPSC stood at 845 persons in 2024 and 589 in 2025, highlighting the limited government employment opportunities available relative to the potential job-seeking population.
He said the State had always placed a premium on education, with parents often securing loans to educate their children, primarily with the hope of securing government employment.
On the global scenario, Imchen said the education landscape was undergoing its fastest transformation since the Industrial Revolution, driven by technology and changing economic demands. Key global drivers, including rapid technological disruption, climate change, demographic shifts and the green transition, were bringing about structural changes in higher and technical education globally, he added.
He said premier Indian institutions, including IITs, NITs and IIMs, were preparing graduates for high-growth technical domains, and three major structural trends were evident in the integration of emerging courses in higher education institutions, technology-driven disciplines, the green and sustainability transition, and interdisciplinary and applied professional courses.
Technology-oriented programmes such as B.Tech., M.Tech. and Ph.D. in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Digital and Forensic Sciences, FinTech and Digital Marketing were expanding across universities and specialised institutions, while programmes in Energy Science, Renewable Energy and sustainability-related fields were gaining prominence in response to emerging industry requirements and the transition towards a green economy, he said.
These trends, he added, indicated that India’s leading higher education institutions were proactively responding to global labour-market shifts, with emerging disciplines increasingly becoming mainstream components of the country’s higher education system.
On the relationship between education and the labour market, he described it as a dynamic supply-and-demand relationship in which educational institutions build human capital while the economy determines how those skills are valued, absorbed and rewarded, emphasising that education alone did not automatically guarantee employment.
Quoting the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, he said labour-market demand would increasingly converge around digital technologies, AI, automation and sustainability-oriented skills by 2030, with high demand expected for AI specialists, machine learning engineers, data analysts, big data specialists, cybersecurity professionals, information security analysts and network specialists.
On the way forward, he said it was encouraging that Nagaland University had taken the initiative to incorporate AI components into postgraduate and Ph.D. programmes across several departments, with implementation proposed from the 2026–2027 academic session, and urged private universities, colleges and technical institutes to follow suit.
He also urged institutions to establish specialised departments and introduce industry-relevant programmes, suggesting faculty-sharing arrangements, institutional collaborations, industry partnerships and hybrid learning to overcome faculty shortages and infrastructure constraints.
Delivering the special address, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Nagaland University, Medziphema Campus, Prof Dipak Sinha said emerging courses need not be entirely new programmes but could involve updating existing curricula to meet changing technology and market demands.
He stressed that AI should be incorporated across disciplines, not restricted to computer science, and noted that NU has introduced AI-related courses, suggesting a phased approach through short-term certificate courses in areas with employment potential. He encouraged use of the SWAYAM online learning platform, where around 70 undergraduate and 30–35 postgraduate students have completed courses and transferred credits to their academic records.
Highlighting opportunities in agriculture and allied sectors, he said NU had approved five agriculture-related skill enhancement courses and suggested faculty training programmes to help general colleges introduce such courses. Emphasising career guidance, practical learning and entrepreneurship, he called for greater industry exposure and institutional collaboration through shared expertise and resources, and encouraged students to explore international scholarships and fellowships.
Sarita Yadav, IAS, Secretary of Higher and Technical Education, gave the welcome address. Technical sessions covered green/renewable energy (Dr M Prakash), agriculture and livestock (Prof Dipak Sinha), AI/ML/IoT/cybersecurity and semiconductors (Er Morimenba), medical science technologies (Dr S Yingnei Konyak), and emerging pedagogies in arts and commerce (Dr Alemla Longkumer). The programme ended with remarks and an action plan by the Additional Secretary and Ex-Officio Director of Higher Education.
