What massive infrastructure? ITIs running operations from single rooms
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Jan 04, 2018, 11.33 AM IST
NEW DELHI: When you think of Industrial Training Institutes or ITIs, you view them as centres with sprawling campuses that have classrooms, labs and other facilities. Well, most of them have received approvals citing these facilities but recent inspections have thrown up a huge surprise even for the government.
An inspection in Jaipur showed how a building in a housing colony had a massive board for the ITI, suggesting that the centre occupied the entire space. But when officials stepped inside they were horrified with what they saw. The institute was operating from a one room flat in a corner of the building. So, what about offices and labs, a senior officer asked? A person at the ITI claimed that it did have a lab and guided the officer to a scooter garage on the ground floor!
There is a proliferation of ITIs in Jaipur with the Rajasthan government's website showing there are over 300 of them in the district, of which 14 are run by the government and rest in the private sector.
But the problem is not confined to Jaipur. The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship has discovered one-room ITIs functioning across states in the North. What has come as a shock is that many of these ITIs had certificates that showed a massive infrastructure. While the ministry is initiating action against agencies that have certified these ITIs, it has also begun to set the house in order and has refrained from cancelling their recognition, at least for the time being.
Instead, the ministry is giving the ITIs three years to put together the infrastructure that they had promised at the time of getting recognition from the government. And, for every year, milestones are being put in place, which the Centre is going to strictly monitor given Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's thurst for skill development.
"The government did not want students who are already enrolled with these ITIs to suffer because of cancellation of the centres. We are giving the errant entities to fall in line and meet the annual infrastructure development targets," said a source.
In all close to 14,000 ITIs have been set up, of which 557 have were established in 2017. The seating capacity has been increased by 77,040 during the last 12 months to take the number to 22.82 lakh. Data released by the ministry on Wednesday showed that in 2017, 12.12 lakh candidates graduated from the ITI ecosystem.
An inspection in Jaipur showed how a building in a housing colony had a massive board for the ITI, suggesting that the centre occupied the entire space. But when officials stepped inside they were horrified with what they saw. The institute was operating from a one room flat in a corner of the building. So, what about offices and labs, a senior officer asked? A person at the ITI claimed that it did have a lab and guided the officer to a scooter garage on the ground floor!
There is a proliferation of ITIs in Jaipur with the Rajasthan government's website showing there are over 300 of them in the district, of which 14 are run by the government and rest in the private sector.
But the problem is not confined to Jaipur. The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship has discovered one-room ITIs functioning across states in the North. What has come as a shock is that many of these ITIs had certificates that showed a massive infrastructure. While the ministry is initiating action against agencies that have certified these ITIs, it has also begun to set the house in order and has refrained from cancelling their recognition, at least for the time being.
Instead, the ministry is giving the ITIs three years to put together the infrastructure that they had promised at the time of getting recognition from the government. And, for every year, milestones are being put in place, which the Centre is going to strictly monitor given Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's thurst for skill development.
"The government did not want students who are already enrolled with these ITIs to suffer because of cancellation of the centres. We are giving the errant entities to fall in line and meet the annual infrastructure development targets," said a source.
In all close to 14,000 ITIs have been set up, of which 557 have were established in 2017. The seating capacity has been increased by 77,040 during the last 12 months to take the number to 22.82 lakh. Data released by the ministry on Wednesday showed that in 2017, 12.12 lakh candidates graduated from the ITI ecosystem.
(This article was originally published in The Times of India)
