The government has approved to continue the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) for next five years. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded its approval to stipendiary support of Rs 3,054 crore to apprentices who undergo apprenticeship training under NATS of Ministry of Education for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 (up to March 31, 2026) has been approved.
Around 9 lakhs apprentices will be trained by industry and commercial organisations under NATS. The apprentices who have completed their graduation and diploma programmes from Engineering, Humanities, Science and Commerce streams will be given stipends of Rs 9,000 and Rs 8,000 per month respectively.
According to an official statement by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), “The Government has approved an expenditure of more than Rs. 3,000 crore during the next five years which is about 4.5 times the expenditure made during the previous 5 years. This increased expenditure on apprenticeship is in line with the thrust which National Education Policy 2020 has given to apprenticeship.”
On the basis of the government's emphasis on "SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas, --SabkaVishwas, Sabka Prayas", opportunities under NATS have been extended to include students from Humanities, Science and Commerce besides students from engineering stream. NATS aims at raising the standards of skill level by strengthening the skill ecosystem and as a result, will provide employment to approximately 7 lakhs youths in the next five years.
“The NATS will provide apprenticeship in the emerging areas under 'Production Linked Incentive' (PLI) such as mobile manufacturing, medical devices manufacturing, pharma sector, electronics/technology products, automobile sector among others. The scheme will also be preparing skilled manpower for connectivity/logistics industry sectors, identified under GatiShakti,” said CCEA's official statement.