Chandigarh, December 15: In a bid to impart quality education to the economically poor sections of the society, the Technical Education & Industrial Training Department has exponentially increased the number of seats to 37,996 in the Government ITIs during academic session 2020-21, which had almost stagnated around 24,000 seats during the past one decade.
According to Technical Education & Industrial Training Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, out of 37,996 sanctioned seats, 36,358 have been filled till August 2020 against sanctioned seats of 23,652, out of which 22,512 were filled during the corresponding period of last year. These figures reflect an increase of 61.91% in the admissions against 62.24% spurt in the sanctioned intake of Government ITIs during the current year.
Likewise, admissions in Government Polytechnics have registered an increase of 87% during the academic session 2020-21 against 60% in 2019-20 as our youth has evinced keen interest now in taking up various technical courses to secure their future. Moreover, Punjab offers the best technical education and vocational training network across the country.
The Minister said the department has taken a conscientious decision to increase the number of seats this year as nearly 70,000 applied for admissions in Government ITIs last year, out of which about 47,000 could not be enrolled. With the increase of these seats, several poor students would be imparted vocational skills at nominal government fee of Rs.3400 per annum.
Pointing out further, Channi said that out of the total admission done, as many as 16,646 SC candidates have been enrolled this year as against last year admissions of 10,979. This pro-poor initiative, said Channi would go a long way in up-skilling the students belonging to unprivileged sections of society through various vocational courses run in Government ITIs at free of cost to earn their livelihood in a dignified manner.
Mr. Anurag Verma Principal Secretary Technical Education emphasizing on the need for synergy in Industry and Technical Education & Industrial Training, said that the Dual System of Training (DST) being implemented in collaboration with Industry was a positive step in this direction. Under the system, the students would be given theoretical training and practical training of six months each in an industrial concern.
He further revealed that 413 such units would be run under DST to benefit 8500 students to be gainfully employed. He said that tie ups/collaborations have already been made with reputed industrial houses viz. Hero Cycles, Trident Ltd., Avon Cycles, Swaraj Engine Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra, Federal Mogul (Patiala), Godrej & Boyce Ltd. (Mohali), International Tractors Ltd. (Sonalika) Hoshiarpur, NFL Bathinda & Nangal, Hero Eutectic Industry (Ludhiana), Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd. (Nangal) besides Lakme India Ltd., Hotel Hyatt and Hotel Taj.
