Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) - the road to a better tomorrow

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Anand Choudhary | 01 May, 2008
India is developing and when we think of impressive infrastructure facilities coming up in the country then we think about the Golden Quadrilateral, Delhi Metro, technology parks, new airports and the engineering prowess that has gone into it. It's true that these marvels have been conceptualized and supervised by qualified engineers, but there is an army of workers who have built these structures,
brick by brick. In order to make the structures truly world class, has the profile of numerous masons, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters also been scanned?

Do we for that matter, give a thought to the issue that to have truly world class infrastructure
we need a labor force that's properly trained. As today's economy demand new skills and hence demand a formal, state of the art training infrastructure.

Training infrastructure for workers exist in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). The ITIs is were conceptualized with the idea of providing people with the right set of skills to face the world of work.

ITIs functioning:
Vocational training in India is imparted through public Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) as well as private Industrial Training Centres (ITCs). Industrial Training Institutes are under the administrative and financial control of State governments or Union Territories. A total of 5,114 ITI/ ITCs (1896 ITI run by the government with a seating capacity of 0.4 Million and 3218 ITCs run by private agencies with a seating capacity of 0.34 Million offer vocational training in 107 trades. The eligibility for admission into these courses varies from Class 8 to Class 12 pass.

After training, the trainees appear in the All India Trade Test to obtain the National Trade Certificate awarded by National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT).

It provides medium to long term institutional training to produce semi skilled/ skilled workers for industrial employment. The purpose of ( ITIs was to provide necessary skills to Indian people so that they could pick up trades of their choice and earn a living.

However, somewhere in the process the objective was missed and hence the large mismatch in the country. In spite of the presence of the ITIs across the country, a vast sea of potential manpower in the country is largely untrained and hence unemployable and the industry suffers because of shortage of trained manpower.

Reports indicate that the situation might worsen in the future. However the government is working in the area. According to the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram: " The government has taken up a programme for the upgradation of 500 ITIs over a period of five years...."

The government also welcomes Industry partnership in ITI upgradation with a commitment and a sound plan for the (ITIs).

The Industry needs to have a vision for the ITIs they take up, how they intend to manage the ITIs
better, the kind of training to be provided to the teachers, how the number of students from disadvantaged section can be increased and what can be done to achieve the growth and sustainability of the ITI. As eventually, the ITIs will not only provide jobs to millions of our youth but will provide the Industry a plethora of highly skilled and semi skilled work force that will immensely benefit the Industry fueling its growth.