Modi Govt About to Roll Out A Mega Jobs Programme For Undergraduates

The Modi government is preparing to roll out a mega ‘apprenticeship’ Programme, specifically targeting students of humanities and other nontechnical courses across private and government-funded higher education institutes, to make them more employable and help them get jobs when they graduate.

A six- to 10-month apprenticeship and on-the-job training with prospective employers, backed with stipends, will be arranged for students in the final year of their degree programmes, ET has learnt.

Central public sector units, sector skill councils and big industry will be linked with the programme to ensure high-quality apprenticeship, basic training and on-the-job training to each student passing out of college, ET has learnt.

Ministers and top officials of the three ministries held a meeting last week to decide on the contours of the programme, set to be jointly launched over the next few days.

The plan is to start implementation in 2019, targeting 1 million students in the 2019-20 academic session.

The Rs 10,000-crore corpus of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme, which has remained largely unused so far, will be unlocked to help fund the stipend-based apprenticeship. The government’s contribution to the stipend will be 25% of the stipend, up to Rs 1,500 per month, a person aware of the plan said.