9,168 skilled youths from state get apprenticeship contracts

LUCKNOW: A huge gathering of vocational education candidates and establishments was seen at the first statewide apprenticeship mela on October 4, organised by the state government.

More than 82,000 skilled candidates from various government programmes attended the mela. These included graduates from various trades of ITI, certified candidates from UP Skill development mission, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY).

Over 4,500 establishments participated in the fair and selected candidates. About 9,168 contracts were signed between the firms and candidates under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and Chief Minister Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme.

44511 Candidates and 2159 establishments registered on NAPS during the mela.

The fair was organised at the nodal ITIs of all 75 districts across UP. The mela is being jointly organised by department of MSME, promotion and export, vocational education and skill development department, directorate of training and employment and RightWalk Foundation, which is the project management unit (PMU) of the programme.

Minister of state for vocational education, Kapil Dev Agarwal opened the mela at the Government Nodal ITI at Muzzafarnagar. “The state government is committed to employment for youths. Such fairs are helpful in getting the youth closer to this goal,” he said.

Some of the companies that participated in the mela, included Samsung India, Reliance, Yamaha India, UFlex, Elcomponics, Awadh Rail Infra, HAL, Hero Motocorp and Tata Motors Limited.

Industry representatives expressed happiness and said that it has given them an opportunity to interact with the skilled candidates directly. They also expressed their willingness to hire more candidates as per their demands.

“This fair was organised to bring companies and skilled youth together and help them get a better understanding of the apprenticeship program,” said secretary to the chief minister and secretary technical and vocational education Alok Kumar.