Will reduce fee in ITIs, introduce new courses

Rajmeet Singh

The government will soon reduce the fee in government-run polytechnics, Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and technical institutions.

This is the agenda of Charanjit Singh Channi, Minister of Technical Education and Industrial Training. “The fee will be more affordable, while industry-driven vocational and technical courses will be introduced,” he says.

His priority, the Chamkaur Sahib MLA says, will be to open a skill development university. “I have already instructed officials to revise the syllabus and make it industry-driven so that students graduating from vocational and technical institutions get jobs.”

Channi is clear in what he wants to achieve. “The impetus will be more on skill development and maximum utilisation of funds given by the Centre. The syllabi will be on a par with that of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and other prominent institutions in the country,” he tells The Tribune.

He further says the youth will be encouraged to pursue technical education. “The focus will be to improve the functioning of institutions imparting technical education. A committee will assess the requirement of infrastructure in government-run institutions.”

Among the other things on his agenda are complaints about the distribution of post-matric SC scholarship funds to students enrolled in private institutes. He says he will get the complaints investigated. 

The Congress leader also talks about investigating into cases of polytechnics and ITIs, where the infrastructure was lying unutilised. Recently, anomalies in the purchase of desktops, laptops and machinery worth Rs 7 crore came to surface. The case has come under the scanner of the CAG.

Besides, the Finance Department failed to release funds under a centrally sponsored scheme for the upgrade of ITIs, resulting in non-utilisation of Rs 40 crore.