India’s apprenticeship mission: Witnessed 2-fold increase in apprentices in the last 5 years

Chandigarh, February 17, 2023- Regional Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (RDSDE), Chandigarh under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India and State Apprenticeship Advisor, U.T. Chandigarh in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised an Awareness Workshop for promoting Apprenticeship Training at the CII Northern Region HQ in Chandigarh today.

 
Speaking at the occasion, Hargunjit Kaur Secretary, Industries Chandigarh Administration shared, “Apprenticeship as a skill needs to be recognized more. It should not be considered a step towards gaining employment but should focus on enhancing theoretical skills. I exhort the policymakers and industrialists to deliberate on apprenticeship to raise it to the level it deserves.”

 
Emphasizing the importance of apprenticeship, Amandeep Singh Bhatti, Director, Technical Education Chandigarh Administration said, “Apprentices get an opportunity to get on-the-job training and are exposed to real-life situations. By learning the best practices, apprentices become skilled workers for better jobs or skilled employment.”

 
Sharing the Government of India’s perspective, Swati Sethi, Regional Director, Regional Directorate of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (RDSDE), Haryana said, “The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India has taken the initiative of organising 250 workshops, of which 3 workshops are to be organised in Chandigarh. At present, many reforms have been introduced which have helped achieve several 6.6 lakhs apprentices within the last year. Government of India is further aiming for 10 lakh apprentices by March 2023.”
 

Sethi also shared that India has witnessed a two-fold increase in the number of apprentices. However, their cumulative population form 0.1% of the Indian employment market, which is considerably low, compared to the global contribution of 4-5%. Of this 80% belong to the informal sector whereas the ratio in the formal sector is considerably low which needs to be improved.
 

Further to Sethi’s remarks, Rajiv Kaila, Chairman, CII Chandigarh highlighted the scope of the local industry and said, “Lack of awareness, lack of clarity on progression pathways and integrated credit framework, and non-availability of training infrastructure are some of the challenges that need to be worked upon.”
 

The workshop covered a series of presentations on topics like the Apprenticeship Landscape, the Apprenticeship India portal, rules, and guidelines of the Act, the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) & National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS), reforms undertaken, etc.