Apprentices - Guidelines for Basic Training Providers

GUIDELINES FOR BASIC TRAINING PROVIDERS 

1. Background 

1.1 The Apprentices Act, 1961 was enacted with the objective of regulating the program of training of apprentices in the industry by utilizing the facilities available therein for imparting on-the-job training. The Apprentices Act, 1961 makes it obligatory for employers, who have a workforce of 40 employees (sum total of regular and contract employees), or above, across the manufacturing, services, trading sectors to engage apprentices in designated trades or/and in optional trades. For establishments having work force of 6- 40 employees this is optional. Establishments with 5 employees or less are not permitted to engage apprentices. 

1.2 Apprenticeship Training consists of Basic Training and On-the-Job Training/Practical Training at workplace in the industry. The basic training is an essential component of apprenticeship training for those who have not undergone any institutional training/skill training before taking up on-the-job training/practical training. Basic Training is imparted to the fresher apprentices for acquiring a reasonable ability to handle Instruments/Machineries/Equipment independently prior to moving to Shop Floor/Work Area for practical training / On-Job Training. Apart from basic training, there is a component of on-the-job training which is performed in the establishments and undertaken by the establishment itself. 

1.3 Keeping in view the importance of Apprenticeship training a new scheme “National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS1)” was launched by the government on the 19th of August 2016 to encourage apprenticeship training in the industry. The scheme provides for: 

i) Reimbursement of 25% of prescribed stipend subject to a maximum of INR 1500/- per month per apprentice to all employers. The stipend support would not be given during the basic training period for fresher apprentices. 

ii) Sharing of basic training cost in respect of apprentices who come directly to apprenticeship training without any formal training (fresher apprentices) under NAPS. Basic training support would be INR 7500/- for a maximum of 500 hours calculated @ INR 15/-per hour. 

1.4 It is in this context that these Guidelines for BTPs for implementing the Apprenticeship (including NAPS) are being issued. 

2. Basic Training Provider (BTP) 

Basic Training Provider (BTP) is an entity who has adequate/necessary facilities for a trade and providing basic training to fresher apprentices, who otherwise do not have any formal education and/or training in related trades, engaged by an establishment. 

2.1 Types of BTPs 

i) National Skill Training Institutes(NSTI), National Skill Training Institutes(W) ii) Government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) having 2 star rating or above and Private ITI having 2.5 Star rating or above affiliated to NCVT 

1 NAPS has a physical target of 50 lakhs with 10 lakhs for fresher apprentices needing Basic Training. The scheme is currently up to March 2020. 

iii) Government & Private Training Centers affiliated with NSDC under SMART portal & the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK). 

iv) Industries/ establishments with “In-House Basic Training facility” v) Basic Training Centre set up/supported by Industry/Industry clusters/Industry Chambers/Associations. 

vi) Stand-alone Basic Training Centres like Polytechnic, Universities, Engineering & Management Colleges having good ranking. 

vii) Training Centres empaneled under State Govts & other GoI schemes. 2.2 Concerned Authority for BTPs under the Apprenticeship Act/rules Guidelines 

The concerned authority to deal with all approvals /issues regarding BTPs under the Apprenticeship Programme in case of Designated Trades will be the DGT/ RDAT and in case of Optional Trades it will be the NSDC/SSC. 

3 Procedure for registration and selection of BTP: 

3.1 Procedure for registration and Selection of BTP opting for Designated Trades 

3.1.1 National Skill Training Institutes (NSTI), National Skill Training Institutes(W), NSTI and NSTI(W) are designated as pre-approved BTP in related trades , RDAT/DGT shall approve and allot them a BTP registration number online. 

3.1.2 Government/Private ITI s affiliated to NCVT: 

a) Government & Private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) having grading with 2.5 above are designated as pre-approved BTP in NCVT affiliated trades only, RDAT shall approve and allot them a BTP registration number online. 

b) Government ITIs having grading less than 2.5 and more than 2, have to apply through apprenticeship portal using their NCVT affiliation MIS code. For this purpose, a separate BTP module is available in the portal for registration. 

c) ITIs can act as BTP only for the NCVT affiliated trades/units, in spare capacity as notified by DGT. 

d) The ITI registering to act as a BTP must have a bank account (to facilitate on line reimbursement of basic training fee). 

e) On submission of relevant details through portal by the Industry/establishment, their application will be directed on line to concerned RDATs. 

f) RDATs will take action to verify/ cross check using the MIS portal the following details: 

i) Status of affiliation, list of trades/ units affiliated 

ii) List of active trades in the ITI 

iii) Present status of admission 

iv) Result of previous batches. 

g) On fulfillment of above requirements concerned RDAT shall approve and allot the ITI a BTP registration number online. 

h) On allotment of BTP registration number, the concerned ITI will be permitted to conduct Basic Training under the Apprenticeship programme in trades allotted by RDAT. 

i) Establishments would be able to depute its apprentices to a BTP after signing of apprenticeship contract. 

3.2 Procedure for registration and Selection of BTP opting for Optional Trades 

3.2.1 Govt. & private Training Institutes empaneled with NSDC on its SMART including Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK) 

BTPs empaneled with NSDC under its SMART portal, including the PMKKs have been pre-approved to run Basic Training Classes for the establishments under the apprenticeship programmes in job roles for which they are so affiliated provided that they fulfill the spare capacity as notified by NSDC. The BTPs under the NSDCs SDMS portal will however need to apply for empanelment of such Training Centres (TC) by submitting application online by filling a variant (refer para 3.2.3) of SMART available on the portal www.apprenticeshipindia.org immediately to run Apprenticeship programmes and have the TCs empaneled under it by March 31st 2019 in order to continue running BT courses under the Apprentice programme in such TCs beyond March 31st 2019. They will not be permitted to commence any such courses beyond March 31st 2019 unless they get the TC empaneled under NSDCs SMART portal. They will however be allowed to complete the BT courses which are already running as on March 31st 2019 from their centers. 

All such BTPs must have a bank account (to facilitate on line reimbursement of Basic training fee). 

3.2.2 In house Basic Training Centres (TC) set up on its own by the Industry or TCs supported by industry cluster /Chamber/ Association or Standalone Basic Training Centres like Polytechnic, Universities, Engineering & Management Colleges or Training Centres empaneled under State Govts & other GoI schemes wanting to undertake Basic Training under Optional Trades: procedure is as under: a) Basic Training facility in a TC includes staff, space, tools and 

equipment and other allied infrastructure in an industry/establishment. For providing basic training under “Optional trade” the industry/establishment is required to refer to the prescribed syllabus of the curriculum concerned on the portal before applying to register as a BTP in order to ensure that it meets all the criteria of the curriculum selected in terms of equipment, qualified and trained trainers etc., to run the Basic Training programme. 

b) Industries/ establishments who have their own in house TCs or TCs supported by Industry clusters/ Chambers/ Association or Training Centres empaneled under State Govts & other GoI schemes with Training facility to run the apprenticeship programme are permitted to start such programmes. They will however need to apply for empanelment of such TCs by submitting application online by filling a variant (refer para 3.2.3 ) of SMART available on the portal (www.apprenticeshipindia.org) immediately to run Apprenticeship programmes and have the TCs empaneled under it by March 31st 2019 in order to continue running BT courses under the Apprentice programme in such TCs beyond March 31st 2019. They will not be permitted to commence any such courses beyond March 31st 2019 unless they get the TC empaneled under NSDCs SMART portal. (They will however be allowed to complete the BT courses which are already running as on March 31st 2019 from their centers). 

c) Industry/Industry cluster/Chamber/ Associations registering as a BTP, in case if they do not possess the required space, staff and 

necessary tools and equipment as per syllabus can tie-up with nearby NCVT affiliated ITIs (One or more NCVT affiliated ITI as the case may be), Polytechnic Colleges/NSDC affiliated BTPs. Industry/ Industry cluster/Chamber/ Association may also tie-up with any other Commercial training/skilling provider accredited/ approved for conducting Government run skill development schemes like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Udaan, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) under Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) etc. However, while doing so the industry/industry cluster/Chamber/Association must take into account the distance between such external institutions and the TC backed by the industry/industry cluster or the establishment as the case may be. 

d) Standalone Basic Training Centres like Polytechnic, Universities, Engineering & Management Colleges wanting to undertake Basic Training under Optional Trades will need to apply for empanelment of such TCs under the NSDCs SMART portal by submitting application online by filling a variant (refer para 3.2.3) of SMART available on the portal www.apprenticeshipindia.org immediately to run Apprenticeship programmes and have the TCs empaneled under it. They will not be permitted to commence any such courses unless they get the TC empaneled under NSDCs SMART portal. 

e) Upon successful empanelment under SMART such TCs will be classified as BTPs under the Apprenticeship programme and will be permitted to conduct Basic Training under the Apprenticeship programme in the specified Optional Trade(s). 

f) The concerned authority of NSDC/ SSC, may at his discretion, verify such facility from time to time with regard to adequate availability of trainers/staff, space, tools & equipment and power connection to administer basic training. In addition to the above, requisite computer facilities with internet and other accessories must be available. 

g) The industry/establishment registering to act as a BTP must have a bank account (to facilitate online reimbursement of basic training fee). 

h) All centres registered as BTP under designated trade by the RDATs will deemed to be approved as BTP for the optional trade. Similarly, all NSTIs and ITIs (grading 2.5 or above) will deemed to be a BTP for the optional trade for the NCVT affiliated trades, and subject to available spare capacity. 

3.2.3 Criteria of registering under NSDC’s SMART portal 

A variant for eligibility to be empaneled under SMART to run apprenticeship programmes is being developed by NSDC and will be notified on the apprenticeship portal of NSDC i.e. www.apprenticeshipindia.org 

4. Terms & Conditions for BTPs running basic training under the Apprenticeship programme. 

i) All BTPs approved to run Basic Training (BT) courses under the apprenticeship programme are expected to conduct training programme as per specified curricula for the designated/optional trades in related job roles. They should prepare time table for the classes in advance for the complete duration of Basic Training under the apprenticeship programme. 

ii) Unlike in case of Short Term trainings, they will not be engaged for this directly by the RDAT/NSDC as the case may be. Instead they will need to be engaged for basic training by the Industry/group of industries/industry associations/clusters/TPAs as the case may be under the apprenticeship programme. The particulars of the BTP will be specified in the individual apprenticeship contracts being signed between the candidate and establishment and generated on line. 

5. Payment of Basic Training Cost 

a. The establishment engaging the “fresher” apprentices must have the apprenticeship contract signed with the apprentices. 

b. After signing of contract of apprenticeship, employer shall depute the “fresher” apprentices to the approved BTP for basic training. 

c. BTP will be provided with a Basic training support for duration as specified in the approved curriculum. This will be for a maximum up to 500 hours/3 months per apprentice and the BT cost to be reimbursed will be calculated @INR 15 per hour up to a maximum of INR 7500/- per apprentice (500 hours). Target for fresher candidate is limited to 20% (10 lakh apprentices) of total target under NAPS (which is 50 lakh apprentices by March 2020). Reimbursement shall be made on first come basis i.e. date of signing of contract between establishment and apprentices. 

d. During the period of basic training, attendance of apprentices will be uploaded by the BTP on the apprenticeship portal. 

e. BTP shall upload the details of completion of basic training and the claim reimbursement of the basic training cost through the establishment/s, (in cases where the industry itself is not the BTP), who have engaged the BTP to conduct the BT for an apprentice on the apprentice portal. 

f. The NSDC/RDAT shall scrutinize the claim and on the recommendation of the establishment engaging the BTP, make the payment limited to 2/3rd of the estimated support for BT under NAPS (up to INR 5000 per apprentices) towards cost of Basic Training directly to BTP through their bank account in the first instance. 

g. The establishment/BTP shall upload the results of assessment after such assessment is done, the BTP can claim of the remaining basic training cost on the apprentice portal (up to INR 2500) for the apprentices who have appeared for assessment. 

h. The RDAT/NSDC shall scrutinize the claim and on the recommendation of the establishment engaging the BTP make the balance payment towards final cost of Basic Training directly to BTP through their bank account. 

i. In case of BT being conducted simultaneously with on the Job training payment would be made @ INR 10 per hour per apprentice at every month on the recommendation of the establishment engaging the BTP up to completion of basic Training and the remaining @ INR 5 per hour per apprentices after assessment in respect of only those apprentices who appear for assessment. (Limited to a maximum of 500 hours). 

j. BTP shall not charge any fee from apprentices for Training. However, an apprentice may be expected to pay a nominal examination fee prescribed by the concerned “assessment & certification” agency like SSC/DGT/NCVT etc. 

k. A BTP cannot cease to function during the mid of a basic training session. However, if it ceases from operating during the course of training, it cannot make a claim for basic training cost on any circumstances. 

l. If a BTP ceases from operating during the course of training, the establishment or industry cluster/chamber/ association has to make a fresh arrangement with another BTP near to the vicinity so that the basic training for apprentices are not affected. However, the new BTP can make a claim only for the period of actual basic training it has offered on a pro-rata basis. 

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