When the government amended the Apprentices Act, it intended towards building a more regulated and industry inclusive ecosystem of apprenticeship. But in its previous tenure, the target of reaching 50 lakh apprentices in five years was missed by a huge margin. Plus the inclusion of apprentices in industries has also been very small in number. Only 0.1% of apprentices is a part of the Indian labour force, while there is a deficit of 12.5 crore skilled people.
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The only way to tackle this scenario and meet the target is to address and work upon the three factors i.e, lack of awareness about regulations and schemes, confusion amongst employers about different prospects of different schemes and a disconnect between higher education and training. When these issues are resolved, it will automatically create high-value apprentices and employers will be eager to accommodate them in their industrial process. Sumit Kumar, Vice President, NETAP, TeamLease Skills University shares his viewpoint.
