MSDE to organize 250 National Apprenticeship Awareness Workshops across 36 States/UTs
Visakhapatnam : Recognizing the need for simplifying and easing the process of apprenticeship and to make apprenticeship aspirational for India’s youth, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) will organize 250 workshops in 36 states/UTs to create awareness of apprenticeship reforms amongst the establishments, aspirants, and its stakeholders. The Regional Directorate, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (RDSDE) will oversee organizing the events at respective locations.
The vision is to accelerate the implementation of apprenticeship reforms and training. The planned workshops have a dual objective of improving the branding and communication for apprenticeship at both the demand and the supply side, while awareness will be built around key apprenticeship schemes such as National Apprenticeship and Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and National Apprenticeship and Training Scheme (NATS).
The objective of these workshops is to assist and encourage the stakeholders to make themselves aware of the apprenticeship reforms and motivate them to increase the number of apprentices and establishments under apprenticeship training, systematically. These workshops will also help in improving the representation in the Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela (PMNAM). Another important aspect would be to conduct effective capacity building to raise awareness and understanding about apprenticeship training among industry communities, youth, and the training providers.
Lauding the initiative, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) expressed, democratizing apprenticeship training to chasm the gap between education, training and employment has become significant. Not only does it lay the foundation for career development for Indian youth, encourage trainees to uptake training from private establishments but also helps industries in seeking the right talent. Therefore, initiatives like these will build pathways for formalization of apprenticeship training in the informal sector that is crucial for industrial development and India’s economic growth. The modifications in the Apprentices Act, 1961. have given access to our youth to receive best hands-on training so that they have the right environment that will help them enter the workforce and introduction of stipend-based systems will boost recognition of skill sets and accelerate empowerment of our youth.
One such workshop (two-day) will be organized on the 2nd and 3rd of February. The first day will be held at Government Polytechnic College, Kancharapalem and will be attended by the representatives from central, state and private establishments, DET, Andhra Pradesh’s government and private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), BOAT, Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSSs), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) and Sector Skill Councils (SSCs). Sri. K Srinivas Rao, ISDS, Regional Director (A.P & T.S) will inaugurate the workshop on the first day. The second day, February 3rd, of the workshop will be held at Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Kancharapalem for the trainees of ITIs and other vocational courses during which they will be made aware of the online registration process including the ways to update profiles, training details how the certificate can be downloaded from the portal upon completion of training. They will also be informed of the means to receive notifications of Central and PSU apprenticeship training opportunities
To close the gap in supply and demand for a skilled workforce, the ministry has undertaken several initiatives in consultation with various stakeholders, to simplify the portal and the processes, and to revise the NAPS guidelines to increase in the number of establishments and apprentices. The Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela (PMNAM) envisages to bring establishments/companies and candidates on the same platform on second Monday of each month and provide youth with various opportunities existing across the participating companies. The workshop will be organized under the overall guidance of MSDE, while NSDC, NIMI, MSMEs, Development Institutes (DI) and RDSDEs would be responsible for the implementation of the workshops.