No takers for Kerala pvt colleges, youth migration continues

The study by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, and International Institute of Migration and Development, was presented in the recently held Loka Kerala Sabha, a forum of expatriates from Kerala.

The study showed that 45.2 per cent of the total internal out migrants from Kerala are in Karnataka, followed by Tamil Nadu (16.6 per cent), Maharashtra, (10.5 per cent) and national capital, Delhi (5.3 per cent).

Among the student out migrants also, Karnataka is leading with 50.8 per cent of students opting for that state for higher studies. Tamil Nadu has 20.9 per cent of student out migrants from Kerala.

Looking at the educational status, the survey said 24.6 per cent of the out migrants have a professional degree as their current educational qualification. Before migration, only 16.3 per cent of them had professional degrees. Around 25 per cent of total migrants had 12th Class as their qualification before their first migration. After migration, only 12.1 per cent remain with 12th Class eligibility. These figures show a chunk of out migrants moved out of Kerala higher studies.

On economic activities of the out migrants, the study said 36.4 per cent were employed in private sector and 13.6 per cent in public sector. Before the first migration, only 16.5 per cent of them were employed in private sector and only 4.3 per cent in public sector. This shows a trend of youths from Kerala migrating to other parts of the country as students and later finding livelihood there mainly in private and public sectors.

Data from higher education department showed that in academic year of 2023-24, around 33 per cent of seats were vacant in four universities. A major chunk of vacant seats were mainly in self-financing colleges, opened in the last two decades.