The right to first job: Why apprenticeship hasn't taken off in India

Apprenticeship in India has failed to take off majorly due to the lack of awareness among the firms especially in the services sector, believe industry observers

It has been close to a year since Sonu (20) started working as a ‘helper’ in a metal forging unit in Mayapuri – an industrial neighbourhood in the Western part of the national capital. Housing hundreds of small and medium light metal factories, scrap shops and automobile service stations, this greasy industrial locality provides work to close to 500,000 people, mostly migrants and low-skilled workers in its vicinity. 

“I usually run the machines that clean, harden or anneal (heat treatment) metals ready for use in the production of manufactured components. This is my first ‘job’ after I completed my schooling