CM gives go-ahead to 19 new ITIs

Strap: Nod to upgrade Guru Gobind Singh Institute of Skills to varsity

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Other key decisions

*The CM approves proposal to revive the Baba Hira Singh Bhathal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lehragaga

* A dedicated mobile app — e-ITI Punjab — launched to provide a single source of training and study material to facilitate the trainees and faculty

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 19

To upgrade the existing technical education ecosystem in the state, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday gave the go-ahead to 19 new ITIs, including one in Beas, with classes to be commenced in the forthcoming session.

Chairing a high-level department review meeting here this evening, the Chief Minister gave approval to upgrade the Sri Guru Gobind Singh Institute of Skills (as a consequent college of IKG PTU, Kapurthala) to Sri Guru Gobind Singh Skill University from 2021-22.

The CM approved the department’s proposal to revive the Baba Hira Singh Bhathal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lehragaga.

The construction of 16 ITIs is already in progress, while the PWD has floated tenders for two. While 16 of the 19 ITIs will be constructed by the PWD, three will be built by the Punjab Police Housing Corporation (PPHC).

The Finance Department has given approval for the creation of necessary posts for these ITIs.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister also launched a dedicated mobile app — e-ITI Punjab — which will provide a single source of training and study material to facilitate the trainees and faculty.

Developed by the department, the application is a complete package for online training and encompasses a digital library with 66 e-books, 700 lectures as PPT presentation, 900 videos of lectures, 500 videos of practical demonstrations and question bank with 30,000 questions to support the students in online education.

In another decision, the Chief Minister asked the department to fast-track the process of admission to Shaheed Bhagat Singh State Technical Campus, Ferozepur, and the Beant College of Engineering and Technology, Gurdaspur, from July 2021 onwards. Both these institutes have been upgraded to campus/non-affiliating universities.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised of various steps and expansion initiatives launched by the Technical Education Department, including 60 per cent increase in seats of ITIs to 37,996 from a stagnated level of around 23,000 over the last 10 years.

To make the training of students more industry-relevant, a dual system of training (DST) has been introduced in the ITIs in collaboration with the industry. Under this system, the students get theoretical training for six months in an ITI and go to the industry for practical training of six months. As a result, this year, 413 units will be run under the DST and more than 8,500 students will benefit.

Further, over the last 15 months, about half of the courses which were affiliated with the State Council for Vocational Training (SCVT) have been upgraded and affiliated with the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET). These NCVET certificates are recognised not only in India, but also in 160 countries.

Besides, the department has translated books of 16 different trades of the Government of India into Punjabi and the work of translating about 25 different trades into Punjabi is in progress.