Govt plans semester system in ITIs

The semester system in both government and private-run Industrial Training Institutes is proposed to be designed in a way so that students can get employment after every semester and may have the option to leave at the end of every semester or take admission in any subsequent semester.

The move was given "in-principle" approval at the 38th meeting of the National Council for Vocation Training (NCVT) here today, Labour and Employment Ministry officials said.
There was a "complete unanimity" at the meeting on the introduction of the semester system, the officials said.

They said the "semester system could also be designed as common to more than one trade which will increase the option of students going from one trade to another, therefore increasing opportunity for getting multi-skill training".

According to available reports, placements in ITIs have gone up from 35 per cent to over 70 per cent in recent times, an apparent reflection of the growing industry requirement for trained hands. In places like Gujarat and Maharashtra, the placement has even touched 100 per cent.

The national policy on skill development has set a target for training of 500 million people by 2022 keeping the growing demand of skilled hands by industry in mind.

Officials said the meeting decided to set up a sub-committee to also look into the possibility of involving Quality Council of India (QCI) in accreditation of both government and private-run industrial training centres.

The plan is that Director General of Employment and Training under the Ministry would appoint QCI for conducting assessment and accreditation of ITIs and ITCs. This will be an independent assessment of the training institutes and QCI-accredited institutes would be affiliated by NCVT.

At present, there are about 2196 government ITIs and 8734 private ITIs with a total seating capacity of 12.18 lakh.

The meeting today was inaugurated by Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, during which he said that a new centrally-sponsored scheme for upgrading 20 ITIs in North Eastern states and Sikkim and supplementing infrastructure deficiencies in 28 ITIs in these states and in Sikkim was under consideration.