Work in progress: Govt resurrects industrial training schools

Industrial Training Institutes were a major source of semi-skilled labour for industrial India.

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Keywords: Semi-skilled Labour, Industrial Training Institutes

New Delhi: The clicks of the camera hold the promise of a flashy new career for 22-year-old Mohit Saxena. He has nearly completed the one-year course in digital photography at an industrial training institute (ITI) in the outskirts of Delhi. He chose the professional certificate course over a regular undergraduate degree, as it would help him realise his dream of being behind the lens faster.

“The facilities here are simply superb. People are co-operative. They've helped me build confidence,” Mohit said.

And Mohit's optimism is not without reason. These ITIs were set up in the 1960s to serve industries of semi-skilled labour but lost focus with the courses not keeping pace with changing technology at work.

Four years ago, the Government decided to revive them. First up, the Government increased the budgetary allocation by almost 10 times.

“There was complaint from the industry. But now they play a part in deciding the curriculum,” Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Sharda Prasad said.

Newer courses like hospitality, tourism and media have been introduced in almost 2,000 Government-run ITIs. Today services account for most of the growth in India's economy and the largest service sector is trade, hotels and restaurants.

Not just five star hotels but dhabas and streetside stalls, transport, finance and insurance are also booming. Older courses are also being polished with new infrastructure and more investment.

Manjit Singh, an alumnus of a Delhi ITI, has come back to train students of the trade he specialised in and says he has noticed a sea change over the past four years. “The machinery is different and is in keeping with what the industry demands,” Manjit said.

The latest offering at Manjit’s industrial training institute is the fashion technology course. But ITIs have still not oriented themselves to courses in banking, finance and insurance. Now these are part of the services sector that contribute to over 50 percent of the country's total GDP.

Acutely aware of this fact, the Government is now taking up sets of 100 to 200 ITIs each year and tuning them to these needs. Women working here also hope to find good jobs but ITIs are still lagging behind the needs of India's fast changing economy.