Cabinet okays Rs 3,054 crore for continuing Apprenticeship Training Scheme

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved stipendiary support of Rs 3,054 crore to apprentices who undergo apprenticeship training under the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) of the Ministry of Education till 2025-26.

NATS is a well-established scheme of the Union government which has demonstrated to enhance the employability of students who have successfully completed the apprenticeship training, an official statement said.

"The government has approved an expenditure of more than Rs 3,000 crore during the next five years which is about 4.5 times the expenditure made during the previous five years. This increased expenditure on apprenticeship is in line with the thrust which National Education Policy, 2020 has given to apprenticeship," it said.

Approximately nine lakh apprentices will be trained by industry and commercial organisations.

The apprentices who have completed graduate and diploma programme in engineering, humanities, science and commerce will be given stipend of Rs 9,000 and Rs 8,000 per month respectively.

"The scope of NATS has further been expanded to include students from humanities, science and commerce besides students from engineering stream. This scheme aims to raise the standards of skill level by strengthening the skill ecosystem and as a result, will provide employment to approximately seven lakh youths in the next five years," the statement said.

"The NATS will provide apprenticeship in the emerging areas under 'Production Linked Incentive' (PLI) such as mobile manufacturing, medical devices manufacturing, pharma sector, electronics and technology products, automobile sector. The scheme will also be preparing skilled manpower for connectivity and logistics industry sectors, identified under GatiShakti," it added.