Govt ask co’s to Hire Apprentices

The Ministry of skill Development and Entrepreneurship had sent notices to nearly 180,000 companies, asking them to comply with the provisions of the Apprentices Act and hire the mandated number of apprentices.

This move comes at a time when the Congress has decided to guarantee a first job through a “right to apprenticeship law” in its election manifesto.

Under the Apprentices Act, 1961, in each financial year, each establishment is mandated to engage apprentices in a band of 2.5-15 per cent of the total strength of the establishment, including contractual staff, of which 5 per cent apprentices are to be freshers and skill certificate holders. Under section 30 of the Act, the shortfall in apprentices is punishable with a fine of `500 per apprenticeship for the first three months and thereafter `1,000 per month until such number of seats are filled up.

Usually, paying a fine is easy for these establishments, thus effort is to make them fully comply and get the remaining establishments to hire apprentices.

This move is part of the government’s strategy to generate awareness and promote apprenticeship in the country to create a skilled workforce.

In any modern economy, it was expected that apprenticeship participation would be between 3-4 per cent of the total workforce, roughly translating to around 20 million apprentices.

We must expand substantially faster to align our demographic divided with predicted economic growth by linking apprenticeship with higher education through degree apprenticeship and encouraging more small and medium enterprises to engage with apprentices.