ASAP Kerala and FICCI organised “Bridge 2017” workshop on Internships.

Additional Skill Acquisition Programme and FICCI Kerala Chapter jointly organized “Bridge 2017” – a workshop on promoting students internship and apprenticeship with a view to strengthen partnering for student internship with the industry. The event was held at The Center Hotel, Kochi on 13th January 2017. The objective of the workshop was to sensitize employer industries about the Internship opportunities and impress upon the opportunities in the Industry led training and its benefits.

The workshop covered various aspects of the Apprenticeship Rules and Guidelines, Overall Industry perspective and relevant aspects of Apprenticeships in other States. The participants had interesting discussions with regard to various courses conducted by ASAP and their relevance, and internship for students enrolled in ASAP’S training programme. The workshop offered a chance for the industry to connect with ASAP and take the first step towards formulating an Internship Policy.

Launch of the ASAP – FICCI workshop on promoting internship

The event was officially launched with a welcome address by Ms. Suseela James, Head- Technical, ASAP. Shri. Deepak L. Aswani, Chairman, Lachmandas Group & Co-Chair, FICCI Kerala State Council, shared the opening remarks and details about the operations of FICCI and its engagement with ASAP. Dr. Prashant Deshpande, Vice President – HR Strategy & Planning, Reliance Industries Ltd. delivered the Keynote Address. Decoding apprenticeship Rules & Guidelines was the subject he spoke about, which gave insights about the apprenticeship rules that exist in the country today and the need to perfect the already existing norms.

Shri Paul Antony IAS speaking on relevance of giving internship by industry

Inauguration and keynote address by the speakers at ASAP – FICCI workshop

The Workshop was inaugurated by Shri Paul Antony, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Kerala. He emphasized on the need of industries to take the initiative to recruit interns on a continuous basis and underlined that it is the need of the hour. Dr. Reju M. T, Chief Executive Officer, ASAP, set the context for the need of the workshop. The basic structure of ASAP, expectations, and the need of Internship were the topics detailed upon.

Shri. Stephen Mascarenhas, VP, Prime Focus World .com on behalf of the industry contributed views of the industry on internship. The huge difference between supply & demand of workforce specifically in Media & Entertainment was comprehended on. The complications of apprenticeship policy was stated as one of the reasons that the Industry takes a back step in providing the Internships.

The Role of FICCI in strengthening Internship and overall Skills Scenario was detailed by Ms. Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Senior Director & Head Skills Development & Higher Education, FICCI. She spoke about the need for the role of apprenticeship to be made aspirational like many other countries like Germany. After the context was set for the meeting, the cluster discussions began sector wise. The Cluster discussion provided input to the development of comprehensive internship protocol for the state of Kerala.

Dr. Reju M. T. IAS, CEO presented the concluding remarks. He mentioned that the expectation from the industry for recruiting an intern primarily is the quality of the interns. He expressed his appreciation for industries which have agreed to provide internship for the students of ASAP. He sought the support needed from the Industries to conduct district level meetings with the same agenda and to implement Internships on an immediate basis. It was decided to prepare a draft guidelines on Internship to be placed before the Government, which will eventually be presented in the cabinet to roll out the same in a formal manner. Shri. Savio Mathew, Head FCCI FICCI Kerala State Council, proposed the vote of thanks.