education

Updated: Sep 30, 2015 16:11 IST

The demand for Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country is scaling unprecedented highs with skill development becoming a buzzword under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government.

“Several reasons have contributed towards this ITI boom. Besides the governmental push and underscoring skill development as a priority sector, we have implemented a movement from the manual to a simplified online system. It is much easier than ever to start an ITI,” said a top government official familiar with the development.

According to government figures, on an average about eight new ITIs—lead institutes for acquiring and developing vocational skills—are being set up across India every day for the last five months. From April 1 to August 30, 1,133 ITIs have been set up and the corresponding additional increase in seating capacity has been by 1,71,392.

“There is a rush among corporates to set up ITIs as part of their CSR effort. Also, there is an increasing demand for skill acquisition and we are expanding into new geographies and areas where there was no such facility before. Moreover, the number of skills is multiplying by getting subdivided into specialties. For example, a skill like welding has about 12 variants now,” the official added.

The top states with the biggest number of ITI are Uttar Pradesh (2,185), Rajasthan (1,769), Karnataka (1,481), Madhya Pradesh (886), Bihar (873), Maharashtra (863) and Tamil Nadu (722).

The official, however, sounded a note of caution over the mushrooming of these institutes.

“With the mushrooming of ITIs, there are quality and regulatory issues too which we are trying to address in an urgent manner. We are trying to devise a ranking system for the ITIs across the country. This system will be up in about a month or so,” the official added.

Operated by both the government and the private sector, ITIs are vocational training organisations that provide post-school technical training. Normally, a Class 10 certificate is the minimum eligibility for admission to ITIs.

At present, there are 13,105 ITIs which cater to about 18,65,629 students at any given point of time. While 2,293 are government-run, 10,812 are operated by the private sector.

Interestingly, the demand for ITIs is rising in the face of plummeting demand for engineering courses in the country with a whopping 13.3 lakh seats in engineering colleges—including both government and private institutes and comprising IITs, NITs, and renowned engineering colleges—going vacant in the last three years.

HT had reported that the government is actively considering utilisation of capacities in such engineering institutes by introducing skill development and entrepreneurial courses so that skill development capacity is enhanced with minimum investment and optimal utilisation of resources.