Every year, India produces students who top board exams and crack competitive tests with extraordinary scores. Their names make headlines; their marks become the pride of schools and families. Yet, when these same students walk into interview rooms—whether for university admissions, internships, or jobs—the story often changes. Knowledge is abundant, but confidence falters. A question as simple as “Tell us about yourself” can feel more daunting than a physics problem or a maths equation.

This paradox is not anecdotal but systemic. The India Skills Report (2024) notes that confidence and articulation remain among the top five deficits in Indian graduates. NASSCOM estimates that nearly 80% of engineering graduates are “unemployable” not due to lack of technical skills, but because of weak communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. The challenge, then, is not competence but confidence.

The exam-centric legacy

Much of this stems from India’s exam-driven system. From the earliest years, students are conditioned to equate success with marks. Schools prepare them to excel in written tests; parents measure progress in percentages; coaching centres thrive on drilling exam strategies. This approach sharpens diligence and subject mastery, but leaves little space for public speaking, creative expression, or interpersonal skills.

By the time students face interviews, they are products of a system that values silence and memorisation over dialogue and self-expression. The exam hall rewards recall. The interview room rewards presence, clarity, and composure. And therein lies the gap.

Cultural conditioning

The lack of confidence is also cultural. Many Indian households encourage obedience and restraint over questioning. The classroom too is often one-way: the teacher speaks, the students listen. Children learn early that speaking up can be risky. By adulthood, hesitation becomes habit.

In contrast, countries like Finland or Singapore weave presentations, debates, and collaborative projects into schooling. Students grow up with confidence as second nature. In India, such opportunities remain the exception rather than the norm.

Policymakers have acknowledged this gap. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 calls for holistic and multidisciplinary education, stressing communication, critical thinking, and creativity alongside subject knowledge. The CBSE has introduced competency-based assessments. The AICTE and UGC mandate internships, value-added courses, and soft-skills modules in higher education.

Yet implementation often remains patchy. In many schools, debates or role-plays are treated as extracurricular luxuries, not core learning. In universities, soft-skills workshops are compressed into a semester, too little to undo years of exam-centric conditioning.

The way forward

Bridging this confidence gap requires shifts across schools, colleges, and homes:

Integrate life skills into classrooms: Debates, group projects, and presentations should be woven into regular teaching, not added as occasional activities.

Reform assessments: Portfolios, reflective writing, and project work should carry weightage alongside exams, rewarding creativity and expression.

Teacher as facilitator: Teachers must encourage questioning, treat mistakes as learning, and create classrooms where every voice matters.

Parental role: Families can nurture confidence by involving children in discussions, valuing their opinions, and reducing overemphasis on marks.

Higher education initiatives: Colleges should embed soft-skills training throughout the course—via mock interviews, mentorship, and peer-led activities.

While confidence is often discussed in the context of jobs, its importance extends further. A confident individual is better equipped to participate in democracy, challenge injustice, and contribute ideas to society. Confidence builds not just employable graduates, but engaged citizens.

India’s strength in academic rigour is undeniable. But in a century where ideas matter as much as information, academic brilliance without confidence risks falling short. The exam hall and the interview room must no longer feel like two different worlds. The task is to raise a generation that can both solve equations and explain them, both secure marks and inspire trust. In short, a generation where knowledge and confidence walk together. (The author is Chief Learner & Director, DPS Nashik, DPS Lava Nagpur, DPS Varanasi, and DPS Hinjawadi Pune)