ITIs set to emerge as resource centre for skilled workforce
Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 28
The government-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the state are all set to be the resource centre for providing industry-relevant skilled workforce for tractor manufacturing units to hospitality industry.
The pilot project of the Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training to involve reputed names in the industry to train nearly 1,000 ITI students has yielded result.
By the year-end, many such ITI trainees are looking forward to joining the units where they trained as per the requirement of the respective industries.
Sharing his experience, 20-year-old Arshdeep Singh, who hails from a lower income group, said he never dreamt of getting training at a five-star hotel as part of his one-year diploma in food production at the ITI, Amritsar.
Though it was cut short due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the industry-relevant skill training has enthused confidence in the youngster, who has been assured a job at the hotel at the completion of his diploma. Arshdeep’s batchmate Jasnoor Singh is buoyed by the exposure during the training at a five-star hotel. “It has changed the way I thought about the hotel industry,” he said.
“We have got a good response from the industry where the students were imparted training. They have been trained as per the requirements of the respective units. The students have got training in industry-relevant skills at reputed places like Hero Cycles, Avon Cycles, Swaraj Engines Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, Federal-Mogul, Godrej & Boyce Ltd, Sonalika, Hotel Hyatt and Hotel Taj,” said Anurag Verma, Secretary, Department of Technical Education.
Propelled by the success of the pilot project and response from the industry, the department now proposes to train nearly 10,000 students.
Explaining the concept, Verma said it was a “dual system of training” that enabled an amalgamation of theoretical training imparted through the ITIs and practical training through the industry, removing the disconnect between the ITI trainees and the industry requirement.
