“I am worried,” says Mumbai-based Garg. Founder of consumer research firm Out of Syllabus, she is seeing disruption in entry-level jobs in her own line of work tasksonce done by junior employees are now performed by AL “What is a three or four-year education going to offer kids? I keep thinking about it,” she says, Garg, an alumna of Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi and member of the Board of Studies at HSNC University, Mumbai, says legacy institutions aren’t keeping pace with the workplace. She says the curriculum for economics and finance is still what she had studied as an undergraduate
The US’s immigration policies have further complicated the situation. Garg and her husband had been clear that their son would study abroad and were close to finalising an education consultant. Now they are not so sure, particularly about US as a higher education destination. “The return on investment on international degrees has decreased. I get resumes from graduates of top universities. They are all coming back to India.” Her husband, who works in private equity, jokes that their son might be better off as a chef. “God knows what jobs will exist,” she says
Garg’s household is not an exception. Across India, parents are watching their children approach the first consequential decision of their lives what course to study what career to pursue at a time when AI anxiety and geopolitical uncertainty are unsettling decades-long assumptions about secure jobs.
“For two-three decades, parents had a lot of clarity on this front-engineering worked. medicine worked. Now that is being questioned, says Syed Sultan Ahmed, chairperson, The Association of International Schools of India. It has become difficult to study abroad, he notes, while good non-science degree options in India are limited to a handful of universities. A student from a middle- or lower-income background doesn’t have many options beyond engineering or medicine, he adds.
Reshma Bachwani, founder of Bengaluru-based consumer insights company illume Research, says, “Choosing computer science was a no-brainer once, but that is changing due to AI. In the last couple of years there is uncertainty about where the careers are going.” A parent she knows, an IT worker who quit her job, is adamant that she would not let her daughter study computer engineering. Another parent is opposed to his son pursuing a “niche degree” in data science as he is unsure the job would even exist 10 years from now
These considerations-breadth over specialisation and possible AI-immune careers are shaping choices well before college. Chennai-based Arva Kadi is filtering Al-proof careers for her children. “I am trying to push my children into fields where AI cannot replace their skills. One is sports and the other is theatre. If you are a sports person, AI can’t do anything to you you’ll have to do it yourself,” says Kadi, founder of an eponymous PR firm. Her 10-year-old son plays cricket and football. In two-three years, she says, they’ll know which sport he is suited for and will focus on it, treating academics as secondary Her older daughter, in Class X, took an aptitude test two years ago. “It’s better to have a structured outlook towards career paths from eighth grade itself. Then you know not to push your child into subjects they may not have an interest in,” she says. Her daughter, she says, will take up humanities after Class X to pursue a career in psychology, sociology or theatreThis is a conversation at many homes. Ask Deana Todywalla, a Class XII student in St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, whose father runs an antiques business. “He wants me to study ancient Indian history and go into antiques,” she says. “He’s quite worried about my prospects because of AI. He believes that AI can never take complete control of antiques.”
The trade requires a trained eye to spot fakes, a skill no algorithm can replicate, she says. She is considering that option as she studies economics, psychology and sociology
Another option she is weighing is acting. The 16-year-old thinks AI will invert the old hierarchy of “safe” and “risky” careers. Theatre and acting are comparatively safe from AI as they rely on human emotion and how a person on stage can convey an idea, a thought, or a feeling.” What once looked like an unstable choice, she says, now seems like one of the sturdier ones and it’s pushed her to consider acting seriously
Not every parent is steered by AI. Some are letting the kids figure it out. Mumbai-based consumer insights professional Anuja Moorty says when her son wanted to be a writer, she didn’t stand in his way Now an undergraduate student in English, he has understood AI’s role in writing and is rethinking. He is considering getting into academics. “It’s not coming out of sadness it’s more like, this is the reality, and you can’t put all your eggs in one basket Being in a city like Mumbai, she says, gives her kids more options to fall back on if a plan doesn’t work out, which may not be possible in smaller towns
In Belagavi, restaurateur Soumya Gowdesh Pati was horrified when her daughter wanted to drop biology in Class IX. She relented only when a psychometric test pointed out the child’s interest was in literature and law, “AI was not a factor in decision-making. My guess is AI won’t replace lawyers,” says Pati.
A generation of teenagers are under real strain. Rayna Mehta, a clinical psychologist and school counsellor in Mumbai, says kids regularly tell her they are too young to know what they want. “It’s a VUCA world-one of volatility uncertainty complexity and ambiguity. My suggestion to parents is: don’t worry about aptitude. If your kid is interested, aptitude develops. But if your kid is not interested although they have a great talent in that area, they are not going to want to do it, because they are just not interested.”
Arjun Vaidya, managing partner of V3 Ventures, says he no longer regrets not knowing how to code. The two skills he recommends are some fluency in creating content and mid-level proficiency with LLMs
Institutions are adapting unevenly. Bachwani says some colleges, sensing parental anxiety, are tying up with IT companies from the first year of engineering to place students and give them real-world exposure early “Everybody is saying that 10 years from now we cannot imagine what job scenarios would be like. So what are we educating our children for? What is the basis of this curriculum design?” she asks. The big shift that is needed, she argues, is generational: parents should step back from their worldview and let children take risks. “Parents are not willing to take that risk. Even when students are stepping out of their comfort zone, parents are pulling them back.”
Ahmed puts it more bluntly: planning too far ahead may be pointless. “The validity of current courses might be only half a decade. I hope every parent and every child understand that there is no concept of completing one’s education. You need to upgrade yourself, update yourself and move up the ladder. No one’s going to be in a job, doing the same thing in the same industry for 40 years. It’s going to be like three to five years.”
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