Short answer. It may give it, but it does not have to. Article 69 says supplementary theoretical instruction, where the programme is undertaken in the plant, may be done by the employer — and if the employer is not prepared to assume the responsibility, it may be delegated to an appropriate government agency.
What the law says
Supplementary theoretical instruction to apprentices in cases where the program is undertaken in the plant may be done by the employer. If the latter is not prepared to assume the responsibility, the same may be delegated to an appropriate government agency.
Labor Code, Article 69 — Responsibility For Theoretical Instruction. Read the full provision →
The instruction happens either way
What the article makes optional is who delivers the theoretical component, not whether it exists. An apprenticeship is a trade taught through work plus the classroom part that explains it, and the provision assumes both are present in an in-plant programme. The employer may do the instruction itself; if it is not prepared to assume the responsibility, that part is delegated onward. What the text does not contemplate is an arrangement in which the theoretical instruction simply disappears and the apprentice is left doing production work.
Why this is the clause apprentices should read
The most common complaint from apprentices is that the training was in name only — months on a line, no instruction, and a certificate at the end that reflects nothing learned. This provision is where the structural answer sits, because it treats theoretical instruction as a responsibility somebody must carry rather than an optional extra the employer may skip. If nobody is giving it, the question to ask is which of the two arrangements in this article the programme is supposed to be operating under.
“In the plant” describes one setting
The provision addresses programmes undertaken in the plant, meaning training delivered on the employer's own premises rather than at a school or training centre. That is the setting where the line between instruction and ordinary labour blurs most easily, which is presumably why it is the setting the article speaks to. Where a programme is run at a training institution instead, the classroom component is built into the institution's own arrangements and this particular allocation question does not arise in the same way.
What to keep
Keep the apprenticeship agreement and any schedule, syllabus or training plan attached to it, because that is where the theoretical component is normally described. Keep your own record of what you actually did each week — the tasks, the hours, and whether any instruction took place — since the gap between the plan and the reality is the thing worth showing. If the programme is meant to lead to a certification, note who is supposed to issue it and on what basis.