Is articleship counted as job experience?

dear all, doing articleship is not mandatory for getting through ca inter, it is however for appearing for ca final exam. So the arguement that most of the employers take that the articleship period is a part of curricullam stands to be valid in case of qualified ca's and therefore it CANNOT be considered as a work experience. On the other hand since articleship is not mandatory for passing ca inter therefore " I feel that such work experience be considered by the employers" for those who have discontinued their course after inter of are applying on the basis of ca inter. Regards Rohit M Lal