Apprenticeship scheme

Germany has a successful apprenticeship system that builds up the skill of their workforce. 

Here is a description from Wikipedia:
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a structured competency a basic set of skills. Apprentices are set a strict training program so they can gain a set of skills to prepare themselves for their desired trade or certain career in which they wish to pursue. License to practice in a regulated profession. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships. Most of their training is done while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade or profession, in exchange for their continuing labor for an agreed period after they have achieved measurable competencies. For more advanced apprenticeships, theoretical education was also involved, with jobs and farming over a period of 4–6 years.
To be successful, the individual must have perseverance, ambition, and initiative. Like a college education, the successful completion of an apprenticeship term does not come easily, but is the result of hard work on the part of the apprentice. In practically every skilled occupation, more than fundamental knowledge of arithmetic is essential. The ability to read, write and speak well is beneficial in any walk of life, but in some apprenticeship occupations it is more important than in others.