Are apprentices better than freshers?

TeamLease Services in its detailed study, 'Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) in apprenticeship for employment and employability', talks about the effectiveness of apprenticeship in conjunction with MOOCs in bridging the employability gap. 

 

India Inc felt apprentices offered them 100 per cent - 150 per cent returns on their investment and their productivity was as high as 90 per cent.

 

According to the report, employers felt that apprentices did exceedingly well on all the three key parameters –productivity, time to turn and return on investment, that they look for in a talent. 

 

Further, from a productivity point of view also employers found apprentices to be efficient.  

Around 50 per cent of the respondents mentioned that apprentices turned productive within 45 days of joining work which is much faster than an average employee. 

 

'Apprenticeships is the most effective skilling/employability/employment tool which could help India get closer to its ambitious targets of skilling 500 million and filling 120 million jobs in 24 key sectors (including construction, retail, transportation logistics, automobile, and handloom) over the next 6 years. While we may be able to create jobs, the biggest challenge is matching the jobs to our talent. Though we add millions of youth every year to the workforce, they are not equipped to take advantage of the possibilities,' said Sumit Kumar, Vice-President- NETAP (National Employability Through Apprenticeship Program), TeamLease Services. 

 

According to the report, while apprentices perceived their employability quotient to be a modest 5.3 on a scale of 10, employers gave them a rating of 8 indicating high ability to perform a job. From a region-wise perspective, though apprentices from the northern region felt they were better equipped for the job, corporates had a difference of opinion. They rated apprentices from the eastern region to be better suited for work.

 

'Corporates are constantly posed with matching and employability challenges. The only optimal solution to bridge this gap and allow both corporate as well as talent to leverage the growth is by adopting learning while doing or earning while learning in a massive way. Apprenticeship and MOOCs can not only positively impact the employment scenario; it can give a boost to the overall growth of the country,' Kumar also said. 

 

According to the report, investing in apprenticeship and promoting learning by MOOC is the most ideal solution for superior skill development and employability.

 

An in-depth analysis, as per the report, apprentices or apprenticeship programs seems to be well received by the western states rather than the southern states. While western region topped the list in terms of availability of apprentices, southern region was at the bottom indicating a lack of enthusiasm in the southern states to undertake apprenticeship programs. From a qualification perspective, technicians with a vocational education constituted the largest pool of apprentices.  

 

Courtesy: www.peoplematters.in