{"id":67222,"date":"2026-02-21T18:23:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=67222"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T12:54:31","slug":"niti-aayog-apprenticeship-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-02-2026\/niti-aayog-apprenticeship-report","title":{"rendered":"NITI Aayog Releases Report on Apprenticeship in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Governance; GS3\/Skill Development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>NITI Aayog<\/strong> launched a policy report titled<strong> \u201cRevitalizing Apprenticeship Ecosystem: Insights, Challenges, Recommendations and Best Practices.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The report presents <strong>a comprehensive analysis<\/strong> of<strong> India\u2019s apprenticeship landscape.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It provides critical insights, identifies challenges, and outlines actionable recommendations<\/strong> to strengthen the apprenticeship system as a cornerstone of India\u2019s skilling and employment strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Apprenticeship<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Apprenticeship training serves as a<strong> critical conduit between formal education and employment, <\/strong>enabling youth to acquire<strong> job-relevant skills through structured, work-based learning.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Apprenticeships boost productivity and innovation for businesses by giving them access to a pool of talented people specifically matched to their requirements.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e9edf1\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"785\" height=\"456\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-111.png\" alt=\"apprenticeship \" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-67223\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e9edf1; width:453px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-111.png 785w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-111-300x174.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-111-768x446.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 785px) 100vw, 785px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Need for Apprenticeship<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>youth aged 15\u201329 years <\/strong>constituted<strong> 27.2% <\/strong>of the population in <strong>2021 <\/strong>and in absolute terms, India will continue to have a youth population of <strong>approximately 345 million by 2036,<\/strong> the largest in the world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>To translate this youth bulge into a demographic dividend, <\/strong>India must ensure that its young population is equipped with the necessary skills, education, and employment opportunities.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the heart of this transformation lies the<strong> imperative to strengthen the skilling ecosystem<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e1e3ec\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"804\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-112.png\" alt=\"need for apprenticeship\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-67224\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e1e3ec; width:491px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-112.png 804w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-112-300x126.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-112-768x323.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Current Landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Gap in Registration and Engagement:<\/strong> In 2024-25, there were 1.31 million registrations for apprenticeships, but only 985,000 people engaged and 251,000 people actually completed their training.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Drop in Registration:<\/strong> There is a marginal drop in registrations in recent years, and a need to continuously monitor drop-out rates between registration, engagement, and completion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Contribution of Establishments: <\/strong>While medium and large enterprises account for less than 30% of active establishments (AEs), they account for over 70% of total apprenticeship engagement.\u00a0 There is low participation by MSMEs, start-ups and informal sectors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gender Gap in Participation: <\/strong>The male participants have a consistently higher share of both registrations and engagements over the years.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is insufficient targeted support for women and marginalised groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regional &amp; Institutional Disparities: <\/strong>Top 10 states account for 79\u201384% of engagement; North East and UTs contribute very little. Performance within states varies significantly across districts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>NITI Aayog Recommendations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Policy Reforms: <\/strong>It recommends creating a National Apprenticeship Mission and a unified National Apprenticeship Portal to streamline governance.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It also calls for targeted incentives to promote apprenticeship engagement among aspirational districts, North East states, and women apprentices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regulatory Framework: <\/strong>Establishing an Apprenticeship Engagement Index to benchmark and enhance apprenticeship efforts of States and Union Territories.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It also calls for robust evaluation of apprenticeship programmes and apprentice competencies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>State and District level interventions: <\/strong>It calls for state- and district-level interventions, suggesting targeted support for \u201chigh-potential, yet low-performing special districts\u201d.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Introduce recognition\/reward initiative for top 25 districts based on apprenticeship growth metrics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Participation by Establishments: <\/strong>It seeks deeper participation by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) through cluster-based approaches, integration with the start-up ecosystem, and aligning apprenticeships with the gig and platform economy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stronger Support for Marginalised Section and Women : <\/strong>It calls for stronger apprentice support including travel and accommodation assistance for marginalised candidates, expanded insurance coverage, structured career counselling, international mobility pathways, and specific measures to enhance women\u2019s inclusion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>Initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) 2016:<\/strong> Launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, NAPS aims to provide on-the-job training to candidates between<strong> 14 and 35 years of age across sectors.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NAPS incentivized employers to engage apprentices by sharing up to 25% of prescribed stipends (up to \u20b91,500\/month).\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It also reimbursed basic training costs for designated trades, fostering greater participation in apprenticeship programmes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS):<\/strong> It is administered by the Ministry of Education, which focuses on graduate and diploma holders and offers six months to one year of structured on-the-job training.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2230822&amp;reg=3&amp;lang=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>PIB<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> NITI Aayog launched a policy report titled \u201cRevitalizing Apprenticeship Ecosystem: Insights, Challenges, Recommendations and Best Practices.\u201d <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The report presents a comprehensive analysis of India\u2019s apprenticeship landscape.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It provides critical insights, identifies challenges, and outlines actionable recommendations to strengthen the apprenticeship system as a cornerstone of India\u2019s skilling and employment strategy. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-02-2026\/niti-aayog-apprenticeship-report \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67226,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67222\/revisions\/67226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}