Few takers for skill development as students shy away from ITI ecosystem

Key concern: Gap between industry requirement and what's taught

W L Rajkumar, a 25-year-old from Arunachal Pradesh, has recently joined the Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI) based in Okhla in New Delhi for a course in mechanical draughtsmanship. Rajkumar has flown all the way from Papum Pare, the only district in Arunachal with two government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), to join the private technical institute.

According to data on the portal of the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT), the ITI in Yupia, Papum Pare, has admitted only 90 students against 268 seats. The other ITI in the same district, located in Sagalee, shows that not even one student has been admitted to its 240 seats.

Rajkumar says most of the students from his neighbourhood and around who want to obtain vocational degrees in technical and industrial training have either flown out to private technical institutes in major metropolitan cities or are pursuing online courses.

Of a total of 1,808 seats available across different ITIs in Arunachal Pradesh, more than 1,200 remain vacant, according to the NCVT portal.

“Our enrolment numbers have been dwindling for quite some time now,” a faculty member from the Bankura ITI in West Bengal tells Business Standard. He adds that ITIs such as the one in Bankura often fall beyond the placement circuits of employers based in tier-1 and tier-2 cities, and do not yield well-paid or even stable job opportunities for students in tier-3 and tier-4 towns. “A Google certificate course, on the other hand, has helped many of my former students secure jobs in Kolkata, Durgapur, Bhubaneswar, and Jamshedpur.”

During a visit to listed ITIs in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Business Standard found many of these training institutes to be no bigger than small shops manned by a single faculty member/owner. 

Earlier in 2017, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship started implementing STRIVE (Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement), a five-year World Bank-assisted project aimed at improving the relevance and efficiency of skills training provided through ITIs across the country. The project covered 426 ITIs including 29 private ones in 33 states and Union Territories at a total cost of Rs 2,200 crore.

Despite the push, student interest in ITIs continues to decline, and the number of vacancies has increased from a third to over a half during the last six years.

Today, most states manage to fill less than or barely half of their total ITI seats. Of the nearly 2.6 million seats available across government and private ITIs in India, close to 1.4 million remain vacant – as compared to some 450,000 student vacancies out of 1.5 million seats in 2015. 

Divya Rajagopalan (name changed on request), also a student of DBTI, says that despite the updated equipment and well-maintained facilities at the ITI in her hometown of Madayi (Kerala), “the faculty is not well-versed in the current market demands in terms of skills and on-field experience. Nor are they up to date with the theoretical knowledge, which recruiters quiz us on during placements.”

Students like Rajkumar and Rajagopalan, however, maintain that it’s not just the ITIs that need to update their syllabi. The overall skill development ecosystem, too, is yet to catch up with the rapidly evolving industry requirements.

Take the case of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), which is currently in its third phase. It has an allocated budget of nearly Rs 950 crore and includes two crucial provisions: short-term training programmes in areas such as entrepreneurship, soft skills, and financial and digital literacy; and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

For the former, the training programmes come under the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) and usually involve 150 to 300 hours. Under the RPL, an individual’s existing skill set, knowledge and experience gained either by formal or informal learning are evaluated and certified.

A faculty member at a Delhi ITI points out that most industry recruiters either decline to recognise RPL and short-term training certificates entirely or only value them as add-on certificates in conjunction with traditional degrees from higher education technical institutes.

Furthermore, the centrally sponsored state managed component of the PMKVY is particularly affected by a dearth of “trainers with right Eligibility Criteria,” according to a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development. The report also acknowledges industry complaints that the training course and curriculum, as well as the practical skill imparted under PMKVY, do not align with industry requirements.  

BVR Mohan Reddy, chairman of the CII National Education Council and founder-chairman of Hyderabad-headquartered software firm Cyient, believes a fundamental disconnect between traditional and vocational degrees is what’s causing students to keep away from ITIs.

“Merely renovating the campuses or spending on increasing the number of faculties is not a solution,” he says. “Rather, the existing faculty needs to be brought up to date with the theoretical and in-depth knowledge that recruiters demand.”

Reddy also points to the need to integrate vocational training with theory-based traditional degree programmes to make the ITI ecosystem responsive to industry requirements, and rejuvenate student interest in these courses.

The Union Budget for FY24 has responded well to these industry suggestions with 30 Skill India International Centres to be set up across different states for youth looking for opportunities abroad and to absorb the best practices.

Also, 4.7 million youth will be given stipend support over the next three years through direct benefit transfer along with the fourth edition of the PMKVY, which will provide training to 12 million candidates and 100,000 trainers in the next three years. Besides existing courses, there will be those on new-age skills like coding, artificial intelligence, cloud, green energy, etc to create a digital-ready workforce.

“Having received the feedback from the industry, we will also be strengthening our assessment and regulatory standards related to prior learning, certification, and other aspects so that confidence among employers also increases regarding the credentials and training of the person,” says an official from the skill development ministry. “This is one way to nudge the industry to pay ‘premium’ for the skill."

National Trends for ITI seats and admissions
	Available seats	Admitted students
2015	1578308	1101119
2016	1908008	1199234
2017	1926211	1215658
2018	2278971	1445787
2019	2573147	1358773
2020	2521307	1218294
2021	2598811	1224880
2022	2604055	1222435
Source: NCVT dashboard
Including government and Private ITIs