10 million apprentices in 10 years: An achievable reality
~ TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship and the JustJobs Network highlight India’s journey to scale up to 10 million app rentices in 10 years in the India Employability Report, listing 12 key reforms for India to achieve this dream~
National, 23rd August, 2022: TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship, a leading conglomerate revolutionizing emplo yability in India, and the JustJobs Network, a leading labour market research organization, today launch a one of a kind detailed ‘India Employability Report’. The report ‘Reimagining Employability for the 21st-century – 10 Mil lion Apprentices in 10 Years’, is a detailed deep dive into the overall employability ecosystem in India, analyzing the gaps in education and skilling and highlighting a 12-point agenda for India to scale its apprenticeships.
Setting up the premise, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship & JustJobs Network’s analysis reiterates that Indian youth do not have proper exposure to the world of work when they are learning. Their education and skills are n ot adequately aligned with what industry requires. Moreover, as the world of work is changing, more emplo yers are keen to hire candidates with the some prior work experience. In this context, apprenticeships have played a crucial role in bridging this gap, transforming the country’s skills pedagogy, enhancing youth employability, and enabling candidates to find right opportunities and assisting organizations to access apprentices.
Sharing her views, Ms Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Ex ecutive Director, TeamLease Services, said, “In dia has the largest he terogeneous youth cohort of 371 million, with close to 3.5% youth jo ining the workforce every year. We are also a country with rising un e mployment and underemployment concerns. Unemployment rate in India went fr o m 2.3% in 2009 to 5.8% in 2018 and youth unemplo yment rate is at 12.9%. Incidentally, from those who are unemp loy ed, 16% are graduate degree holders and over 14% are post graduate degree students. All of this indicates a significant mismatch between what the world of work needs and what our youth knows. Providing quality education, training and employment to our massive youth cohort is an adventurous task. Furthermore, with social economic challenges of the ca ndidates coupled with an education system which is more focused on the supply front over learning outcomes, the jour ney becomes even more challenging. Apprenticeships have emerged as an enterprising and promising solution which is truly augmenting the employability landscape in India. However with our current base of mere 500,000 apprentices, we have barely reached our true potential”.
“There is a widening chasm between education, training, and employment in India. Despite the complex web of govern ment schemes and non-profit, for-profit, and public institutions that provide training, the incidence of formal training re mains low at less than 4%. The supply-side focus of training does not align with the demands of the job market. Our large and growing youth population needs good jobs to harness their productive potential, but businesses also need a workfo rce that is equipped to meet the growing and changing demands of markets. Apprenticeships can help bridge these gaps, resulting in better outcomes for youth, but also good return on investment for employers by significantly reducing the co st of hiring, imparting need-based skills, and expanding the pool of potential hires”, added Ms Sabina Dewan, Presi dent & Executive Director, JustJobs Network.
The report further states that to arrest the persisting challenges of youth unemployment and underemployme nt, scaling the apprentices pool is the need of the hour. To reimagine employability in the post 21st century era, and to scale apprenticeships, a 12-point reform agenda, based on five design principles that will enable – (1) Le arning while earning, (2) Learning by doing, (3) Learning with flexibility, (4) Learning with modularity, and (5) Learning with signalling value, is required.
| 12 point recommendations for 10 million apprentices in 10 years:
· All training should eventually be employer-led, as through apprenticeships. This must be an incremental process beginning with degree-linked apprenticeships · The governance architecture of apprenticeships must be streamlined · Mandate that universities, colleges, stand-alone institutions should make provisions for an apprenticeship program · Apprenticeships should be a tripartite agreement between the university, the apprentice, and the industry partner. Associated changes should be made to reflect this in UGC regulations as well as the Apprenticeship Act. · Create a single portal for both National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) and National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) for all designated and optional trades · Embrace properly vetted Third Party Aggregators (TPAs) to serve as intermediaries between employers, potential apprentices, and government. · Adopt uniform stipend structures and government reimbursement across Ministry of Education (MoE), Directorate General of Training (DGT) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). · Afford the same health and safety protections for apprentices as regular workers. Employer liability for compensation of injury to apprentices should be the same as for regular workers. · Build government capacity and Institute awareness campaigns at the Central and State levels as well as in companies. · Expand and prioritize Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) certification and design processes by which employers or Third Party Aggregators (TPAs) can apply for RPL certification on behalf of an apprentice. · Ensure that Sector Skill Councils have state representatives. · Focus on enabling apprenticeships among smaller companies. Ultimately, when it comes to education and skills training, the perceived value matters. To individuals and parents, whether they can leverage the education and training to find gainful employment matters. For em ployers, a productive workforce is key. For governments, building human capital for development and grow th is important. All stand to gain with a well-functioning education and skills system; all stand to lose if the shortcomings are left unaddressed. |
India currently has only 500,000 apprentices, which constitutes 0.11% of the pool of apprentices worldwide. W ith these reforms, we will not only ramp up our apprenticeship adoption, but we will also be get closer to what is already happening in Europe, China, Japan – countries that have pioneered apprenticeships over the decade.
About TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship: TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship is India’s first and largest Degree Apprenticeship Programme offered through a public private partnership with the TeamLease Skills University (TLSU), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, CII and NSDC. The company has hired about 600,000 apprentices with more than 1000 employers. About 98% of these apprentices have tra nsitioned into formal employment and almost 40% have been employed in the same organization. Through its D egree Apprenticeship Program, TeamLease focuses on enhancing the employability quotient of the youth of our country and bridge the skill deficit. TeamLease Skills University (TLSU) is India’s first vocational skills univ ersity as well as India’s first NAAC certified University that offers employment-oriented multi-level programs.
About the JustJobs Network (JJN): JustJobs Network (JJN) is an applied research institute finding evidence-ba sed solutions to one of the most pressing challenges of our time: How to create more and better jobs and im pr ove the employability of India’s large and growing population. JJN produces research on good job creation and workforce development, focusing on the critical knowledge gaps in the employment landscape. JJN convenes a network of diverse stakeholders — including policy shapers, private sector players, academics, and grassroots le aders — to deepen the practical implications of its research and amplify its impact. Through the combination of cutting-edge research and global knowledge sharing, JJN aims to forge a fresh, dynamic channel for policy dialo gue and instigate practical change to improve employment opportunities and outcomes for more people. Our te am members are based in New Delhi and Washington, D.C.
About TeamLease Services: TeamLease Services is one of India’s leading human resource companies offering a range of solutions to 3500+ employers for their hiring, productivity and scale challenges. A Fortune India 500 company listed on the NSE & BSE, TeamLease has hired 18 lakhs+ people over the last 20 years and has 2 lakhs+ open jobs every day. One of India’s fastest growing employers, TeamLease also operates India’s first Vocational University and India’s fastest growing PPP Degree Apprenticeship (DA) programme. The Company offers sol utions to large, medium and small clients across the 3Es of employment (2 lakhs+ employees), employability (5 lakhs+ students) and E-workforce (1000+ employers).
