Published Paper Details:

This paper investigates the similarities that exist between colonial education systems and current skill development initiatives in India. It particularly focuses on skill-based education programs that focus largely on English, that is training for soft skills, as provided under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) programs. The study used postcolonial theory, and discourse analysis, in addition to empirical evidence gathered from both media investigations and audit reports to demonstrate the continuing relevance of colonial pedagogical principles in today's India. By following a line of thought originating with the 1835 Minute on Indian Education by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay through its evolution to a modern-day neoliberal model of government, it can be shown that the linguistic economic capital afforded to graduates of these skill-development programs helps facilitate the ongoing control and exclusion of India through a colonial framework. The analysis reveals that skill-development initiatives often transform rural youth into measurable outputs rather than autonomous subjects, thereby sustaining linguistic imperialism and epistemic dependence. The paper ultimately contends that meaningful decolonization requires reimagining education beyond employability-driven, English-dominated frameworks.