SHREYAS

Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS) is a Central Government scheme that offers industry apprenticeship opportunities to general graduates of April 2019 through the National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme (NAPS). The program strives to enhance the employability of Indian youth by providing 'on the job exposure' with a stipend. This article explains the scheme in brief.

Objectives

The objectives of SHREYAS are:

To develop the employability of students by introducing employment opportunities into the learning process.
To establish a close functional link between education and industry/service sectors on a sustainable basis.
To improve skills that are in demand among the students in a dynamic manner.
To create an 'Earn while you Learn' concept into the education system.
To help the business/industry to secure good quality human resources.
To link the student community with employment facilities that are rendered by the Government.

Scheme Overview

SHREYAS is a programme that comprises three Central Ministers, namely

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Human Resource Development. Besides this, this includes National Career Service (NCS), the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), and introduction of B.Sc./B.A./B.Com (Professional) courses in higher educational institutions.

SHREYAS Portal

SHREYAS portal enables educational institutions and industry to log in and provide their demand and supply apprenticeship. Based on the pre-specified eligibility criteria, students would be matched with appropriate apprenticeship avenues. The State Governments play a major role in securing apprenticeship opportunities except for Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), through which students are exposed to the option of industry and service sector apprenticeship. SSCs have recognized more than 100 NSQF aligned job roles/courses in the sectors like IT, logistics, retail, tourism, BFSI, healthcare, electronics, media, life sciences and management that can be taken under this apprenticeship program. These courses would be available to them from the academic year April-May 2019. More than 40 higher educational institutions have tied up for taking up embedded apprenticeship courses.

Operation of the Scheme

The primary scheme would be operated with National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) that provides the placing of apprentices up to 10% of the total workforce in each business/industry. The scheme would be implemented by the SSCs. Initially, the Banking Finance Insurance Services (BFSI), telecom, retail, logistics, media, management services, ITeS and apparel would be added. Over time, more sectors would be added as per the demand of the apprenticeship and curriculum adjustments.

Implementation Tracks

The programme is planned to be implemented in three tracks, namely Add-on apprenticeship, Embedded Apprenticeship and Linking National Career Service with Colleges. The tracks work together to cover 50 lakh students by 2022.

Add-on Apprenticeship

This is a degree apprenticeship, where students who are currently completing the degree programme are invited to opt a job role from the selected list of apprenticeship job roles that are given by the SSCs of the MSDE. The duration of the programme is six months and is prefixed by basic training regarding the sector. The programmes begin immediately after completing the degree programme. During the apprenticeship period, the students would get a monthly stipend of about Rs.6000 per month by the industry. Towards the end of the period, the respective SSC conducts a test and students who clear the tests would be granted with skills certificate in addition to their degree certificate.

Embedded Apprenticeship

Under this, existing B.Voc programmes would be restricted into B.A. (professional), B.Sc (Professional) or B.Com (professional) courses that include not only educational input and

vocational input but also a mandatory apprenticeship that ranges from 6 to 10 months depending on the requirement of the skill. During the apprenticeship period, students receive a monthly stipend of Rs.6000 per month by the industry, from which 25% would be reimbursed under the NAPS programme. Towards the end of the apprenticeship period, the SSC conducts a test and students who clear the tests would be granted with skills certificate in addition to their degree certificate. Embedding apprenticeships and skill content into them or modifying the curriculum of existing degree courses to reduce classroom content and incorporating basic skill training with the apprenticeship is a part of this programme.

Linking National Career Service with Colleges

The National Career Service (NCS) portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment would be linked with the Higher Education Institutions. More than 9000 employers have posted requirement of 2 lakh vacancies for which students can be taken into consideration. This helps institutions that do not have a campus recruitment facility and has been taking measures to enhance their employment opportunities. Besides this, students would be trained in soft skills as required by the market.

Modalities

The scheme is operated by coordinating with the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the Ministry of Labour. The operation process is as follows.

The SSCs have identified more than 100 areas where they would be able to find apprenticeship opportunities. In addition to colleges, it recognizes industries where apprenticeships would be provided.
Higher Educational Institutions can log in to the SHREYAS portal and express their interest in the skill areas, with the total number of students who opt for it.
This demand would be surveyed by the concerned SSC after confirming the available positions in the portal.
Depending on this confirmation, the education institutes upload the names of the students on the SHREYAS portal.
The NAPS generates a contract between the industry and the students.
Following this, the monthly stipend would be paid by the industry, and 25% of this would be refunded by NAPS portal subject to a maximum of Rs.1,500 per month.
SSC monitors the progress and conducts an examination at the end of the apprenticeship period and gives a certificate to students who clear the tests. These certificates are valid throughout India for employment opportunities.

Stakeholders

Role of Institutions: Higher Education Institutions explains the scheme with various options to the students who are in the final year and make them participate in this programme. Once students are enrolled, the institutions register on the SHREYAS portal mentioning the job roles with the number of students in every role. Role of SSCs: SSCs spot the industries for apprenticeship and conducts assessment leading to certification. They would be informed about the students who are registered by the educational institutions. Depending on this, it arranges and confirms the establishments that are provided as apprenticeships. The institutions collect and furnish the details of the participating students. SSC enrols them as apprentices and generates contracts between students and business enterprises. It also conducts an assessment of the candidate on the completion of the apprenticeship and issue certification. Role of MSDE (NSDC): MSDE manages the NAPS programme through NSDC. They not only monitor the progress of the apprentices but also finances the programme by disbursing the claims received from the business enterprises towards stipend reimbursement according to NAPS. The ongoing efforts of the SSCs are monitored by MSDE that periodically introduces new SSCs to the programme. The entire programme progresses with a dynamic interface, and information that is shared between MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and MSDE.

Financing

Under NAPS, the Central Government shares 25% of the stipend per month subject to a maximum of Rs.1,500 per month during the period of the apprenticeship. In addition to this, an amount up to Rs.7,500 would be allocated for basic training cost whenever required.