Online admissions to check bogus ITIs in State

To curb the growth of bogus Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) that are indulging in ‘certificate business’, the State government has decided to begin online admissions to all aided and government ITIs from next academic year.

Minister of State for Labour P T Parameshwar Naik told Deccan Herald that the State labour department conducted a survey of all the 1,154 private ITIs in the State.

“After these institutes applied for grant-in-aid, we conducted a survey this year. We found that only 546 institutes are genuine and the remaining are not credible. Therefore, we have decided to introduce online admissions from next academic year,” he said.

Noting that most of these private institutes were just issuing certificates without conducting proper skill development programmes, and this practice was affecting the reputation of the ITIs, the minister said that online admissions will not only regulate the admission process, but will also provide proper training and skill development required for industries.

“They were issuing certificates by taking money. Some of these institutes charged up to Rs 50,000 for admission,” the minister said.

He said that the State had 1,608 ITIs, of which 1,154 are unaided, 196 are aided and 218 are owned by the government. These institutes train 1.7 lakh students every year. The labour department has also decided to introduce bio-metric attendance systems from next year in all government and private institutes. To cater to the farming community in the rural areas, the department has decided to begin a course in agriculture mechanism, where students will be trained to repair farm equipment like tractors and pumpsets.

“This course will be started in association with the agriculture department from next year. This was one of the most required courses as there has been an increase in the use of farm equipment lately. When they need to be serviced or repaired, the farmers have to travel to cities,” the minister explained.

As part of skill development programmes, students will learn a multiple-trade system, where one student will be learning two to three trades at a time, instead one course.