To find a job is not a challenge in India, the problem is with the wages and the aspiration mismatch, said a senior official in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). “Looking from a skill perspective, job is not an issue because if it was then people would not have been going to the skilling centres,” said Rajesh Agrawal, Joint Secretary, MSDE.

However, the issue is wages. Someone might be getting wage of ₹15,000 but aspires a wage of ₹20,000 so there’s an aspiration mismatch issue, he said adding that good apprenticeship and industry aligned eco-system ensures that the match between wage and aspiration is much more perfect. Recently, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Labour and Employment launched a Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS) for youth pursuing higher education.

The programme is a basket comprising the initiatives of three Central Ministries — the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), the National Career Service (NCS) and introduction of BA/BSc/BCom (Professional) courses in higher educational institutions.

“We are trying to work with the colleges to roll out work-integrated curriculum for graduates like BA/BSc/BCom(Professional). The aim is to start these courses at the earliest as the key challenge is that they can only be started only when the college has got a good tie-up with the companies,” said Agarwal.

He added that a lot of focus is also being given on skill upgradation part so that workers can see a rise in their income.

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