Bengaluru, 20 December, 2019: India Apprenticeship Forum in collaboration with NETAP [National Employability through Apprenticeship Programme, India’s fastest growing apprenticeship programme offered by TeamLease Skills University in a Public-Private Partnership Ministry with Human Resource Development and Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship hosted a dialogue on ‘Leveraging the power of apprenticeship for creating human capital” in Bengaluru today. The event witnessed corporates emphasizing the need for strengthening the apprenticeship eco-system in the state.
Held at Taj, M G Road, the discussion was graced by eminent dignitaries from the National Skill Development Corporation, TeamLease Skills University as well as leading corporates. The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Manish Sabharwal, Chairman & Co-Founder, TeamLease Services and Mr. Surojit Roy, Senior Head, Apprenticeship Division, NSDC. The event also witnessed panel discussion by Ms. Swetha D’souza, General Manager, Human Resources, Swiggy; Ms. Anita Borulkar, VP- HR, Bharat Fritz Werner; Mr. Balaji Babu, Zonal Head- HR, Fortis Healthcare and Professor B. Thimme Gowda, First Vice-Chancellor, Karnataka State Rural Development & Panchayat Raj University, Gadag.
Addressing the session, Mr. Sumit Kumar, Vice President, TeamLease Skills University said, “Employability is a far greater problem than unemployment. While skill development initiatives in Karnataka have been doing their bit, it is far from desirable. Addressing the employability gap and aiding corporate to take advantage of the demographic dividend will require encouraging employers to adopt the on-the-job training module. Policy makers across the world have recognized ‘learning by doing’ and ‘learning while earning’ as a very important vehicle for tackling the skill crisis. Apprenticeships can assist employers to combat high attrition issues in the state, especially in industries like manufacturing, automotive and industrial infrastructure. It will also significantly address the skill deficit by training candidates as per industry requirements.”
The platform also had deliberations on the current state of apprenticeship as well as how the situation can be improved. According to experts apprenticeship has been a fundamental subpart of skill development across the globe. However, in India, only 4% of the labour force is formally trained unlike in China which has 84% apprentices. While the government has been making efforts to make the environment conducive it’s still a work in progress. A holistic interaction, the session also witnessed corporate urging the need to bring about a shift in the way apprenticeship is practised. They called for ‘ease of doing apprenticeships’.
The session also urged the need for consolidating all work-based learning programs and employability schemes under one jurisdiction and recognizing them under Apprentices ACT as well as providing monetary rewards to employers to absorb apprentices are pivotal requirements for the industry. India has 71 million registered enterprises and even if 10% of these enterprises start deploying apprentices, 7 million enterprises will make a huge impact on apprentices headcount.
