“‘Earn while you learn’ scheme needs to be strengthened to make vocational education and skill training meaningful.” Comment.
Approach · directive: “comment”
What it asks · Explain why combining paid work with learning is central to effective skilling, review current schemes and gaps, and say what strengthening requires.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Comment: why 'earn while you learn' (apprenticeship and work-integrated training) makes vocational education and skilling meaningful
- Identify why the present schemes need strengthening and how to strengthen them
Open with · Only 4.4% of youth aged 15-29 had formal vocational or technical training in 2022-23 (PLFS); 'earn while you learn' through apprenticeships joins skills, income and job experience.
Cover
- Rationale: shop-floor learning fixes the skill mismatch; a stipend keeps poor youth in training; firms gain job-ready workers.
- Framework: Apprentices Act, 1961 (amended 2014), NAPS (2016) sharing 25% of the stipend up to Rs 1,500 a month, NSQF, Skill India; NEP 2020 targets vocational exposure for 50% of learners by 2025.
- Gaps: low incentive for small firms, women only 7.74% of NAPS apprentices in 2016-17, informal employers outside the system, weak certification and stigma.
- Strengthening: simpler compliance for MSMEs, direct stipend transfer (NAPS-2), credit transfer to degrees, industry-designed curricula, and scale through the PM Internship Scheme (Budget 2024-25).
Close with · Strengthened this way, earn-while-you-learn can meet SDG 4.4: substantially more youth with relevant technical and vocational skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
Add value (verified)
- NEP 2020 sets a target that at least half of all learners in school and higher education will have exposure to vocational education by 2025.National Education Policy 2020, para 16.5 - Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education), via PIB ↗“By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education, for which a clear action plan with targets and timelines will be developed.”
- PLFS 2022-23: only 4.4% of youth aged 15-29 had received formal vocational or technical training; 16.6% were trained through informal sources.Economic Survey 2023-24, Chapter 8 (Employment and Skill Development) - Ministry of Finance ↗“According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report 2022-23, 4.4 per cent of the youth in the age cohort of 15-29 years have received formal vocational/technical training, while another 16.6 per cent received training through informal sources.”
- Women's share among NAPS apprentices rose from 7.74% (2016-17) to 20.77% (2023-24); NAPS-2 reimburses 25% of the stipend, up to Rs 1,500, directly to apprentices' bank accounts.Economic Survey 2023-24, Chapter 8 (Employment and Skill Development) - Ministry of Finance ↗“Under NAPS, participation of women has increased from 7.74 per cent in 2016-17 to 20.77 per cent in 2023-24. ● Direct Benefit Transfer of Apprentices”
- The PM Internship Scheme, announced in the Union Budget 2024-25, aims to give internships in 500 top companies to one crore youth over five years.Economic Survey 2024-25, Box XII.9: PM Internship Scheme - Ministry of Finance ↗“The Union Budget of 2024-25 announced a new scheme for internship, named the PM Internship Scheme (PMIS), in 500 top companies to one crore youth over a period of five years.”
- SDG target 4.4 seeks a substantial increase by 2030 in youth and adults with relevant technical and vocational skills for employment.Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - United Nations ↗“4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2021, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 221words · Minimalist IAS
Only 4.4% of youth aged 15-29 had formal vocational or technical training in 2022-23 (PLFS). 'Earn while you learn', paid work-based training as in Germany's dual system, joins skills, income and job experience.
Why earning while learning makes skilling meaningful
- Job-ready skills: shop-floor training cures the classroom-industry mismatch.
- Retention: a stipend lets poor youth stay in training instead of dropping out for wages.
- Dignity of vocation: NEP 2020 targets vocational exposure for at least 50% of learners by 2025.
- Stipend
- youth stays in training
- on-the-job skill
- NSQF certificate
- decent job
Why the scheme needs strengthening
- Weak incentive: under the Apprentices Act, 1961 (amended 2014), NAPS (2016) shares only 25% of the stipend, up to ₹1,500 a month; small firms stay away.
- Gender gap: women were just 7.74% of NAPS apprentices in 2016-17, rising to 20.77% by 2023-24.
- Informality and stigma: informal employers stay outside, and certificates carry little weight.
Way forward
- Ease for MSMEs: simpler compliance; NAPS-2 now pays the government's share straight to apprentices.
- Pathways: credit transfer between apprenticeships and degrees, with industry-designed curricula.
- Scale: the PM Internship Scheme (Budget 2024-25) aims to place one crore youth in 500 top companies over five years.
Strengthened this way, 'earn while you learn' can meet SDG 4.4: substantially more youth with relevant technical and vocational skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
