World Youth Skills Day, celebrated the world over on July 15th, saw the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) completing four years of the Skill India Mission. A host of skills training MoUs and initiatives were signed at an exclusive event in the capital.
Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, made a special mention of apprenticeships as a route to skill-building, emphasising the government’s recent focus on promoting apprenticeships by revising stipend payouts to boost participation in the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme. In parallel, a degree apprenticeship program was launched, in collaboration with industry and academia.
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Designed as a dual-mode program by the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Human Resources & Development, the apprenticeship degree would include on-the-job practical skills training integrated into a 3-4 year university program. Other apprenticeship programmes announced were:
- A degree apprenticeship in retail by the Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India, McDonald’s and Ness Wadia College of Commerce
- A degree apprenticeship in media by the Media & Entertainment Skills Council, Bot VFX Limited, Shri Shankarlal Sundarbai Shasun Jain College for Women, and Vikatan Group
- Apprenticeship training in financial services for 5,000 apprentices in 2019-20 in roles such as ‘Banking Front Office Executive and Tele-Caller’, by the NSDC, SBI, and HDFC
- Further, HDFC will take on 10,000 job ready trained professionals over the next three years under a joint programme with the NSDC.
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Another major highlight was the announcement of the Kaushal Yuva Samwaad, an open dialogue with youth in training centres across the country to get their views on skills development issues and opportunities. Designed as a two-week consulting programme, the Kaushal Yuva Samwaad will collect youth perspectives from Industrial Training Institutes, polytechnics, and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana centres.
