Focus on Apprenticeship Training showcases the government’s intent to leverage apprenticeship opportunities for the youth across industries, and nudge skill development to a demand-driven ecosystem: Skills Min
Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey welcomed the General Buget proposals saying, it lays the foundation for building an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. Dr Pandey emphasized that the focus on Apprenticeship Training showcases the government’s intent to leverage apprenticeship opportunities for the youth across industries, and nudge skill development to a demand-driven ecosystem.
In a statement issued here today, he said, India has shown incredible resilience in the face of adversity and with this reformist Budget, the government has charted the path to economic recovery and growth by stressing on all-round development from maximizing the potential of our human resources, to strengthening infrastructure and manufacturing, from boosting small enterprises to increasing agricultural income.
He summed up saying, by focusing on partnerships at the global level, Union Budget 2021 has given an impetus to collaborative training programmes that have facilitated the exchange of vocational skills and knowledge with other countries, all towards making India the Skill Capital of the World.
According to experts, given the change we have seen since Covid’19, it was expected that budget would focus on up-skilling & reskilling of workforce across sectors such as Manufacturing, Ecommerce, Logistics, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals etc., however these aspects were neglected in the announcement. While the budget has spoken about increasing skilled workforce for new technology competencies like AI, Big Data, Robotics etc.; it has not looked at any impetus or reforms to augment the skilling ecosystem. Some of the key aspects that have been overlooked are:
- Developing a robust physical and digital infrastructure for skilling
- Enabling technology adoption for blended learning/skilling
- Fast track policy implementation (like NEP)
- Creating structured avenues for using the unutilized funds which were announced under Skills Development budget for FY20-21
- Introducing tax relief on the CSR funds: Exempting GST and other tax liabilities on the CSR funds which would have helped reduce the cost burden and enable more corporates to effectively use CSR budgets for initiatives such as skill training and rural workforce development
“The focus to strengthen NAPS and NATS is a positive move. Allowing more Universities to offer degree apprenticeships (from 100 universities in last year’s budget to 150 universities this year) is a supportive gesture, however there is still no clarity on the criteria basis which universities will be allowed to initiate these programs. This is one of the key aspect that the budget should have considered, said Neeti Sharma, Senior Vice President, TeamLease Services. More Voices:
“The 2021-22 Union Budget has been a letdown for edtech firms which performed extremely well during the pandemic and were revenue drivers. Platforms promoting hybrid and blended learning will play a pivotal role in accelerating reach in tier 2/3 towns and the government should have taken cognizance of this and provided special incentives. Home-grown edtech firms such as ours make a tremendous contribution to the tech industry in terms of providing job ready talent for future technologies. As an NSE group company, we welcome the allocation of Rs 1500 crore fund for digital payments as this will drive the need for more skilled talent in the fintech sector, and drive employment opportunities.
However, we welcome the announcement of collaborative training and inter-training programmes between India and Japan to facilitate the transfer of Japanese vocational and industrial skills, and the partnership with UAE to benchmark skilled qualifications. We expect such initiatives will be a game changer for industries. Building and collaborating on skill initiatives with other countries will bring new avenues for India’s youth who want to reboot their career.” Dr Santanu Paul, CEO and Managing Director, TalentSprint.
“The special focus on skilling is the stepping stone for becoming Aatmanirbhar. With over eight million graduates across streams entering the job market this financial year, the announcement of amending the Apprenticeship Act is a huge move. The collaboration with the United Arab Emirates for skill qualification and accreditation will make our youth more skilled as per the international skilling standards. Even the collaboration with Japan for transferring Japanese vocational models will surely bridge the prevalent skilling gap in our country.” – Ankit Shyamsukha, CEO, ICA Edu Skills.
“The proposal to amend the Apprentice Act to further enhance apprenticeship opportunities for our youth is forward looking and will help this sector. At the same time, the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme of 2016 will be enhanced to provide apprenticeship opportunities for students. The proposal to realign the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) will provide post-education apprenticeship, training to graduates and diploma holders in engineering. This will further the government’s initiative for an Atma Nirbhar Bharat.”- Aditya Malik, CEO & MD, Talentedge
“We are pleased to see the vocational & skill based courses coming to forefront in our Finance Minister’s speech today. They have for way too long served in the sidelines of the Indian education regime and with this push we are hopeful that we will be able to produce better professionals and overall an impactful educational culture in the country.” – Chef Niklesh Sharma, Founder of Academy of Pastry & Culinary Arts (APCA)
“The Union Budget 2021 has given due importance to skilling and education which is a welcome move in today’s skill-driven industry. The government’s focus on supporting local manufacturing, skill development, and a heightened emphasis on job creation will lead to greater opportunities for the youth of the country. In addition to that, the partnership with the United Arab Emirates and Japan to promote industrial & vocational skills, techniques, and knowledge is a major boost for the sector. Also, since automotive is the biggest organized employer in the country, hence the realignment of the existing scheme of national apprenticeship training scheme for providing post-education apprenticeship training of graduates and diploma holders in engineering over 3000 crores is also a positive sign for automotive skilling. Nikunj Sanghi, Chairman ASDC
“ The emphasis on skill development in partnership with the United Arab Emirates and Japan to promote industrial & vocational skills, techniques, and knowledge is a major boost for the sector. The realignment of the existing scheme of national apprenticeship training scheme for providing post-education apprenticeship training of graduates and diploma holders in engineering over 3000 crores will pave way for better employability in National and international markets. With the proposed Higher Education Commission, primed to transform the higher education system it will definitely boost the quality of higher education and will also serve as a stepping stone to establishing India “a hub of higher education” across the globe.” Keshav Maheshwari, Whole-Time executive of Allen Career Institute
“The budget strengthens the Skill India mandate of India being the human capital provider for the world including an avenue for livelihoods of the underserved – economically weaker sections, SC, ST. The Nursing bill is welcome and the current draft needs amendments for creating a credit continuum from ANM (Auxiliary Nursing & Midwifery) to all the way MSc nursing for upward mobility.” T.Kalyan Chakravarthy, Executive Director, PanIIT Alumni Foundation
“The Union Budget 2021 has introduced useful propositions in line with enabling a technically skilled future workforce. The government’s investment towards a robust framework which includes the skilling and upskilling of engineering graduates, diploma holders, and an enhanced focus towards technical skilling of non-science students will aid in paving the path in creating a job-ready workforce in the “New Normal”. However, it would have been advantageous if the Government introduced amendments with regards to the GST cut from 18% to 5% for edtech products, benefitting both learners and edtech companies.” – Prateek Shukla, CEO and Co-founder of Masai School
“We are pleased to see the vocational & skill-based courses coming to the forefront in our Finance Minister’s speech today. They have for way too long served in the sidelines of the Indian education regime and with this push, we are hopeful that we will be able to produce better professionals and overall an impactful educational culture in the country. The introduction of the New Education Policy (NEP) has also served us a propellant for the age old educational infrastructure in India and we are hopeful that the Government will keep on bringing necessary amendments in the future as well”. Chef Niklesh Sharma, Founder APCA.
” The Finance Minister’s announcement to incentivize start-ups funding and propel single entrepreneurship in the country will enable the development of cutting-edge and indigenous technological solutions, create high-tech jobs in India, up-skill Indian professionals, and enable us to tap the ripening global market” – Pavan Allena, Founder & CEO MetamorphosisEdu
” I feel this is a very good budget as Employment will rise as MSME’s get incentives. Thankful to the government for allocating huge funds on Education but I feel the government should maintain a proper server for Job Applications as well.” – Suraj Punjabi. Founder of Edviseme Tech Venture LLP
“Many students drop out after 10th and 12th – a huge waste of human capital. The newly announced Higher Education Commission can deploy resources and funds into hybridizing vocational and professional skills training for this youth with a mixture of e-learning and skills building in vocational centres. The initiative to strengthen our human capital and train our youth by providing INR 3000 crores towards the National Apprenticeship Scheme is a hugely welcome step.”- Rohan Krishna, CEO, Co-Founder, Elite
“We feel Budget 2021 comes up with various opportunities for students to enhance their skills and this right intent of the government can truly be attained if we also have long-term strategy and organisational structure in place and we also look forward to it. “ – Som Sharma, Founder of Edu Brain Group
“The proposed amendment of the Apprenticeship Act in the. Budget has the potential to reboot and revitalize our education and training systems with a view to further enhance apprenticeship opportunities for our youth. Apprenticeship could be the best model to skill India’s blue-collar workforce as it will transform the student into a fully-trained industry executive with real-time exposure to shop-floor dynamics. It will not just enhance employability and reduce joblessness, but from an employer perspective, it will lead to improved skills, productivity and professionalism.”- Sunil Dahiya, Executive Vice President, Wadhwani Opportunity at Wadhwani Foundation
“An allocation of 3,002.21 crores to skill development ministry and its various programmes is a welcome step but not sure whether that’s enough given the current pandemic and need to create a digital infrastructure for education. Higher Education Commission, an Umbrella body to regulate education, is a welcome step and hopefully would provide clarity and ease for educational institutions to introduce multiple academic programs. However, there is a disappointment due to no relief from the burdensome 18% GST on Edtech industry which is doing a massive job of educating our next generation”. Nitin Potdar, Partner J. Sagar Associates
“This Budget doesn’t mention the distress in education and skilling space. Hopefully the fine print of Union Budget 2021-22 will give clarity on the outlay in higher education and skilling space. The FM has allocated over INR 3000 crore funds with a forward looking training plan towards the success of Atmanirbhar Bharat. However, the funds announced are similar the Union Budget 2020-21 for skill development, which was also insufficient..”Vikram Kumar, CEO, Lrnable Group
“The budget emphasized the recent trend of tinkering at the edges of the problems that confront Indian Education System. The budget consists of the apt strategies which will help in speedy implementation of National Education Policy (NEP).”-Prof (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah, Director, JK Business School
