Taking a keen interest on providing employment and making the vocational courses syllabus fit to match the industry requirements, the state government of Maharashtra has planned to revamp the curriculum of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). It has decided to introduce new short-term courses that are in line with the need of the hour from the industry.
Last week, the state cabinet amended a rule giving power to the state to design syllabus for ITIBSE -0.99 % students. The Cabinet had passed a resolution to set up an autonomous body named the State Council for Vocational Training (SCVT). The council's role would be to fix new syllabus and courses for the ITIs in consultation with companies.
An executive committee would run the SCVT. It would have invitees from industry bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Indian Merchants Chamber.
According to sources from the government, many of the courses that existed earlier in the 417 state-run ITIs offer are outdated, which makes life difficult for students as they apply for jobs after the course. "Courses for plumbers, electricians, fitters, turners are all outdated, and these were what the industry wanted many years ago," said an official.
Citing example of the utility of the courses, he said, "We have one textile firm saying that they would be needing 500 workers for their textile plant that they are setting up in a year. We don't have a textile course at all, so now we will run short-term textile courses to train people so that they could get employment there."
Even government officials acknowledged that they have been encouraged after initial talks with companies which felt the need to 'retrain the workers' after they cleared ITI.
"The old courses have not served any purpose. We need to retrain the workers from ITI which means a huge loss in time and productivity as it takes anywhere from 3 to 6 months," said an industrialist from Aurangabad.