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EDUCATION

Saathi program which was aimed to sen- for industry to take on much needed ap-
sitize the youth of the country on various prentices. The comprehensive reforms
avenues under Skill India Mission and under Apprenticeship rules include
increase the aspiration for skill devel- increasing upper limit for engaging
opment. Close to 40 lakh students were apprentices from 10 per cent to 15 per
counseled under the program. Then an cent; decreasing the size limit of an
embedded apprenticeship degree pro- establishment with mandatory obliga-
gram has been rolled out in retail, media tion to engage apprentices from 40 to
and logistics embedded into degree pro- 30; payment of stipend for first year has
grams such as BA/BSc/BCom. been fixed rather than linking it to mini-
mum wages; 10 per cent to 15 per cent
bout seven lakh apprentices will hike in stipend for 2nd and 3rd year to
be trained in one year, which if apprentice and duration of apprentice-
A converted will almost double the ship training for optional trade can be
number of apprentices trained over the from 6 months to 36 months.
last amendment made to the Appren- The ITIs Dual System Training (DST)
ticeship Act of 1961. MSDE is also pro- scheme is likely to be introduced in at
moting Third Party Aggregators (TPAs) least 1000 ITIs. The DST is a model of
who will be key catalysts for promoting training inspired by the German method
apprenticeship training, which is one
of the most sustainable form of skill
development. Skill India is currently
A Memorandum of Understanding
has been signed with the SBI for engage- engaged with more than
ment of 5000 apprentices as banking 9,100 schools and has
front office executive and tele-callers
in the current financial year 2019-20, as integrated skills from 20
part of an initiative to launch partner- sectors. About 7.5 lakh
ships for promotion of apprenticeship in
the financial sector. The ministry is also students have already
developing a skill vouchers program for benefited from it. These
micro, small and medium enterprises
Catch them young (MSME), as a provision model to enhance initiatives are being
Under the PM-YUVA scheme, a pilot pro- the delivery and quality of the programs. planned in conjunction
ject is being executed in 300 institutes Vouchers will be provided to learners
including in 200 Industrial Training In- and entrepreneurs towards the training with States
stitutes and 50 Polytechnics across Delhi, program they see most value in.
Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, The 22 winners of IndiaSkills 2018 and
Telangana, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, their experts had represented the coun- and provides industry exposure through
Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and try with their outstanding performance industry led trainings to students of
Maharashtra. at the WorldSkills International 2019 the various ITIs. In the first 100 days, 40
The project aims to promote entre- (WSK), held in Kazan, Russia. India won National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs)
preneurship as an alternative career one gold, one silver, two bronze and 15 have signed partnership agreements
choice and the pilot project is expected Medallions of Excellence at the biggest and 739 MoUs have been signed. The
to reach out to around 70,000 youth competition for skills. India ranked 13th duration of the practical training portion
through entrepreneurship awareness among 63 countries that participated at of the course has also been made flexible
and education sessions. The project is WorldSkills International 2019, mark- and adaptive to the industry schedule.
likely to create 600 new and 1000 scale- ing it to be the best finish for the coun- All the 138 plus courses under CTS have
up enterprises by March, 2020. A MoU try in the coveted skill championship. been brought under the ambit of DST, as
has been signed with Cisco, Quest Alli- They were felicitated with certificates against only 17 courses earlier. ITIs are
ance and Accenture to train youthacross and cash prizes for their remarkable exclusively permitted to conduct train-
India enrolled in industrial training performance. ing under DST with deemed affiliation in
institutes(ITIs) in digital literacy, career the 3rd shift.
readiness, employability skills, and ad- Reforms In a bid to keep up with the times,
vanced technology skills such as data The ministry has introduced a wide the ministry has also launched new age
analytics. range of reforms to the Apprenticeship courses in 12 NSTIs. These include Inter-
The MSDE has also launched the Skill Act of 1961, to make it significantly easier net of Things — Smart Healthcare; Inter-

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