Cabinet Approves Continuation of National Apprenticeship Training Scheme for next five years

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has accorded its approval for stipendiary support of Rs. 3,054 crore to apprentices who undergo apprenticeship training under National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) of Ministry of Education for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 (upto 31-03-2026).

Approximately 9 lakhs apprentices will be trained by industry and commercial organisations. NATS is a well-established scheme of the Government of India which has been demonstrated to enhance the employability of students who have successfully completed the apprenticeship training.

The apprentices who have completed graduate and diploma programmes in Engineering, Humanities, Science and Commerce will be given a stipend of Rs.9,000/- and Rs.8,000/- per month respectively.

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 5 years. This increased expenditure on apprenticeship is in line with the thrust which National Education Policy 2020 has given to apprenticeship.

In keeping with the Government emphasis on "SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas, --SabkaVishwas, SabkaPrayaas", the scope of NATS has further been expanded to include students from Humanities, Science and Commerce besides students from the 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 7 lakhs youths in the next five years.

The NATS will provide apprenticeships in the emerging areas under 'Production Linked Incentive' (PLI) such as Mobile manufacturing, Medical devices manufacturing, Pharma sector, Electronics/Technology products, Automobile sector etc. The scheme will also be preparing skilled manpower for connectivity/logistics industry sectors, identified under GatiShakti.