SHREYAS to Skill Non-Technical Students

Last Updated on April 17, 2019 by Bharat Saini

SHREYAS (Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills), a programme conceived for students in degree courses, primarily non-technical, with a view to introduce employable skills into their learning, promote apprenticeship as integral to education and also amalgamate employment facilitating efforts of the Government into the education system so that clear pathways towards employment opportunities are available to students during and after their graduation; was launched by Prakash Javadekar, HRD Minister on Wednesday 27 February 2019 in New Delhi with the following objectives:

• To improve employability of students by introducing employment relevance into the learning process of the higher education system
• To forge a close functional link between education and industry/service sectors on a sustainable basis
• To provide skills, which are in demand, to the students in a dynamic manner
• To establish an ‘earn while you learn’ system into higher education
• To help business/industry in securing good quality manpower
• To link student community with employment facilitating efforts of the Government

“The purpose of education is not just to bring out a good human from the system but to bring out a good human with skills,” said Javadekar addressing students, and added, “The education with skills is the need of the hour and the SHREYAS will be a major effort in this direction to make our degree students more skilled, capable, employable, and aligned to the needs of our economy so that they contribute to country’s progress and also obtain gainful employment”.

• SHREYAS has been introduced for providing industry apprenticeship opportunities to students in degree courses exiting in April 2019.
• Primary scheme will be operated in conjunction with National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) which provides for placing of apprentices upto 10% of the total work force in every business/industry.
• Scheme will be implemented by Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), initially Banking Finance Insurance Services (BFSI), Retail, Health care, Telecom, Logistics, Media, Management services, ITeS and Apparel.
• More sectors would be added over time with emerging apprenticeship demand and curriculum adjustments.
• Educational institutions and industry personnel can log in with SHREYAS portal and provide their respective demand and supply of apprenticeship.
• Matching of students with apprenticeship avenues will take place as per pre-specified eligibility criteria.
• More than 40 higher educational institutions have already been tied up for taking up embedded apprenticeship courses.
• Government has sanctioned ₹10000 crore for SHREYAS.
• HRD ministry has planned to change the curriculum of general courses to make them more employment-friendly with introduction of BA/BSc/BCom (Professional) courses in the higher educational institutions.
• Coursework of 1000 hours will be added to B A, B Com and B Sc programmes; out of which 250 hours each will be given to soft and ICT skilling and rest 500 hours will be dedicated to specific skill courses.
• During the apprenticeship period, the student would get a monthly stipend of about ₹6000 per month by the industry, 25% of which would be reimbursed under the NAPS programme.
• At the end of the apprenticeship period, there would be test conducted by the Sector Skill Council concerned and successful students would get skills certificate in addition to their degree certificate
• HRD ministry aims to expand SHREYAS to other graduates and at postgraduate levels.
• The website, ac.in, is operational inviting applications from students from non-technical courses.
• Students and alumni can register themselves at the portal which will connect them with apprenticeship programmes and recruiters.
• HRD ministry is expecting to have 2-2.5 lakh students gaining apprenticeship certificates within three months.
• State Governments are expected to play a major role in securing apprenticeship opportunities, apart from the Sector Skill Councils, so that general degree students passing out in April 2019, gain the option of industry & service sector apprenticeship.
• SSCs have identified more than 100 NSQF aligned Job roles/courses in the sectors of IT, Retail, Logistics, Tourism, Healthcare, BFSI, Electronics, Media, Life Sciences and Management, which the exiting graduates can take up under Apprenticeship program.
• These courses will be available to them from Academic year April-May, 2019.
• Ministry of Human Resources Development and Ministry for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship launched 7 degree Apprenticeship curricula, which are BBA & BVOC courses, remodelled with apprenticeship embedded in them.

6 Sector Skill Councils of IT, Retail, Logistics, Tourism, BFSI, Food Processing have taken the lead. More curricula, currently underway, include Healthcare, Electronics and Media sectors