Hyderabad : After organizing 10 Skill Connect Road Shows, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) continues to spread awareness about Apprenticeships in Hyderabad. Industry showed interest and gave encouraging response, sector skill councils, training partners and others also applauded about this drive while participating in the dialogue on implementing the Apprenticeship Training in the industry.
Mr Sanjay Singh, Chairman, CII Telangana and Chief Executive, ITC, PSPD, in his welcome speech, highlighted the importance of skilling the youth as the key to the national development. Addressing the issue of the large influx of inexperienced candidates in the industry and non-availability of desired skill sets, he underlined the importance of Skill Connect Road Shows as a path-breaking step towards raising awareness on the apprenticeship training as well as the role of private sector companies in the training and in balancing the demand and supply of skilled workforce.
Mr Surajit Roy, Director, Apprenticeship, NSDC, explained the reforms under the Apprenticeship Act which, he mentioned, are based on the wish list presented to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship by members of CII. He informed that most of the
demands of the industry have been incorporated to make the apprenticeship regime industry-friendly. The reforms have made apprenticeship a self-regulated scheme; and is expected to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of skilled workforce in the industry.
Mr Nagesh, DGT shared the collective efforts of the State in skilling youth. By sharing the data on the number of Apprentices currently being trained at the various industries in the State, he appealed the participants to make a sustainable society by training the youth of the country.
Mr Nayakar Reddy, Head, Technical Training, Dr Reddy’s, shared that Dr Reddy’s has been the front-runner in hiring Apprentices in Telangana. While sharing his experiences, he said that quality and committed training of the youth leads to loyalty of the apprentices and a low attrition rate.
Mr Per Borjegren, Team Leader, Indo-German Vocational Education and Training, GIZ India, shared the framework of the project and mentioned that the project replicates selected elements of the German Dual VET system, one of the most successful vocational training system across the globe. Comparing the revised reforms of the Apprenticeship programmes with the various skill training schemes across the globe, he highlighted that Apprenticeship Programme in India is one of the most flexible schemes as it is industry-driven. Stressing on the large magnitude of population in India, he opined that training the youth will be a challenging task, but the industry should take it up as an opportunity to create the largest employable workforce.
The Indo-German Programme for Vocational Education and Training and the experiences made by the project in creating a systemic change by enabling industry associations to become ‘professional skill development service provider’ were shared in details by presenting the experiences created through cluster based approach in Bhiwadi and Aurangabad.
CII presented its 360-degree assistance in the Indian industrial ecosystem and offered to support the industries through handholding, providing a help desk and addressing both the demand and the supply side with respect to the Apprentices by systematic identification through Model Career Centre, which have been established to overcome the limitations of the Employment Exchange.
By means of interactive session, the participants were invited to deliberate on the inputs provided by NSDC, CII and GIZ. The results of the group discussions were shared in plenary, which included the job roles which are required by the companies including the number of apprentices against each of these job roles; the support which is required for enabling the companies for effective participation in apprenticeship programme and the challenges they are currently facing.
The workshop of about 140 participants ended on a positive note with expectations of enhanced engagement by all the stakeholders in promoting Apprenticeship Programme. Several companies identified job roles and stepped forward/raised their hands towards engaging apprentices in their organizations.
The next workshop under the Skill Connect Road Show will take place on September 20 in Jaipur.
