India looking at compulsory apprenticeship for students: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

The National Education Policy 2020, Pradhan said, has placed equal importance on education and skilling

India is looking at compulsory apprenticeship for students, along with a new curriculum and a framework for skilling, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at the sidelines of a meeting of officials from Singapore and India at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Pradhan said that until India skills, re-skills and up-skills our young demography and prepares them for the future of work, we will not be able to fulfil global responsibilities.

“In the next 25 years, 25 percent of the global working population will come from India,” Pradhan said.

The National Education Policy 2020, he said, has placed equal importance on education and skilling, paving the way for integration of schooling and skilling. “The horizontal and vertical mobility through the National Credit Framework will redefine India’s skills ecosystem,” Pradhan said.

Read | Skills, competencies will drive future than degrees; old jobs vanishing due to technology: Pradhan

He added that the joint workshop between India and Singapore will focus on leveraging the expertise of both countries and facilitate mutual sharing of experiences. Both the countries, he said, will engage on three major aspects, including the development of a new curriculum for skilling, a framework for skilling ecosystem in higher education, and, compulsory apprenticeship and frameworks for lifelong skilling.

Simon Wong, High Commissioner of the Republic of Singapore to India, said that Singapore was the first country to establish linkages with UPI through their payment system PayNow, and recently, Indian rocket PSLV placed two Singapore satellites into the orbit. There is a huge opportunity to extend this cooperation to the space of skilling, Wong said.