No industry skills after college? This government scheme offers paid apprenticeships and job opportunities

The newly set-up programme under the Ministry of Education provides Apprenticeships to graduates and postgraduates right after college to make them skill-ready for their future jobs.

This platform not only helps aspiring students to get hands-on experience in corporate culture and work life, but also helps empower micro, small and medium-scale industries, helping them connect with the exact kind of employees they require.

This has also helped in boosting permanent employment among the youth, with 79% of the total apprentices securing employment in the same establishments where they worked as apprentices.

The event was attended by various dignitaries in the academic environment and more, including Dr. Buddha Chandrasekhar, COO, NEAT-AICTE, New Delhi, Shri Dibakar Chandra Deka, Vice Chancellor, Mizoram University; Prof. Amarendra Kumar Das, Vice Chancellor, Tezpur University and Prof. Dr NK Agarwal, Director, Department of Higher Education, Government of Bihar, along with Dr S.M. Ejaz Ahmad, Director, Board of Practical Training (Eastern Region), Ministry of Education, Government of India, showing support towards the further development and spread of the scheme.

Dr, S.M. Ejaz Ahmed spoke on the programme and its agenda. “This programme is the signature programme of the Board of Practical Training, Eastern Region under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. This programme is a message to all youngsters that NATS is one of the most important programmes connecting education with the much-needed industry requirement.

“The skill gap is something that exists in the educational ecosystem right now, so NATS is the vehicle through which graduates after college move forward as an employee or self-employed.”

Asked about the lack of industry-ready training in premier institutions of the nation and the existence of this scheme, Ahmed told IBNS about the time a change like the New Education Policy takes. Even though the NEP seamlessly connects industry experience with education in its coursework, proper implementation of this might take a decade or more.

The National Apprenticeship Training Scheme acts as a bridge programme for individuals completing their degrees during this transitional phase, to help them have a smoother transition into the workforce.

The scheme, however, needs much more engagement by the young public since every year, a very large amount of the youth population completes their graduation or post-graduation, but their transition into the workforce is often hindered due to the lack of industry-ready skills.

The higher reach of this scheme from the present, around 1.5 lakhs in FY 2025-26 will help these individuals to get paid apprenticeships for a year and also become more attractive to the job market and industries.

(Reporting by Swastik Sarkar, Photos by PR)