BackCenter unveils ambitious project to offer 10 million internships to students
While the project will start immediately at 4,400 urban local bodies, or ULBs, and 100 smart cities, it will be scaled up to all government departments at the national and state levels in the next few years
PremiumNEW DELHI: The government on Thursday unveiled an ambitious project to offer 10 million student internships in government departments, urban local bodies and smart cities in the next few years.
While the project will start immediately at 4,400 urban local bodies (ULBs) and 100 smart cities, it will be scaled up to all government departments at the national and state levels in the next few years. A joint effort of the human resource development (HRD) ministry and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, if goes well, it will be nearly 30 times bigger than the current apprenticeship scheme
“India has a substantial pool of technical graduates who should be given a chance to be a part of the urban transformation of India. It is essential for graduates to possess real-life skills desired by the job market. There cannot be a better environment than a ULB or a smart city for experiential learning," said housing and urban affairs minister, Hardeep S Puri.
HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said the ultimate aim is to offer internship to 10 million students over a period of time and bridge the employability gap.
“It will provide practical experience to our students and will help infuse fresh ideas and innovative thinking into the working of ULBs and smart cities," Pokhriyal said. Authorities said despite the pandemic and subsequent lockdown in the current year, the target is to offer internship to 25,000 students.
Puri said the move can also help in creating a specialist for urban India, which caters to at least 31% of the country’s population. The government is running the smart city mission to redevelop and make 100 cities more sustainable. Till date, projects worth over Rs1.65 trillion have been tendered under the smart city mission, of which projects amounting to around ₹1.24 trillion are in the implementation stage.
Puri advised All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe to explore opportunity at the civil aviation and commerce ministries. Puri is a minister of state with independent charge at the civil aviation ministry and a junior minister at the commerce ministry.
Shahasrabudhe said The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP) will provide opportunities to fresh graduates and help them move around the country to get good work experience. They can do internships for a period of up to one year.
The ULBs, smart city administrations and government departments will have the flexibility to recruit any number of fresh graduates as interns up to one year. Stipend and other benefits will be decided between students and their recruiters.
“We are creating an artificial intelligence-based platform to work as a match maker between urban local bodies, departments and institutions," the AICTE chairman said.
AICTE is the apex technical education regulator under the broad jurisdiction with almost 10,500 institutions including engineering and B-Schools functions. Currently, not even 40% of students get formal internships before entering the job market.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
