To impart quality education to the economically poor sections of the society, Punjab Technical Education and Industrial Training Department has exponentially increased the number of seats to 37,996 in the Government ITIs during academic session 2020-21, which had almost stagnated around 24,000 seats during the past one decade.
“Out of 37,996 sanctioned seats, 36,358 have been filled till August 2020 against sanctioned seats of 23,652, out of which 22,512 were filled during the corresponding period of the previous year. These figures reflect an increase of 61.91 percent in admissions against 62.24 percent spurt in the sanctioned intake of Government ITIs during the current year,” said the Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Likewise, admissions in Government Polytechnics have registered an increase of 87 percent during the academic session 2020-21 against 60 percent in 2019-20 “as our youth has evinced keen interest now in taking up various technical courses to secure their future”, he said.
Moreover, Punjab offers the best technical education and vocational training network across the country, he added.
The Minister said that the Department has taken a conscientious decision to increase the number of seats this year as nearly 70,000 applied for admissions in Government ITIs last year, out of which about 47,000 could not be enrolled.
With the increase of these seats, several poor students would be imparted vocational skills at a nominal government fee of Rs 3,400 per annum, he said.
Pointing out further, Channi said that out of the total admission done, as many as 16,646 SC candidates have been enrolled this year as against last year admissions of 10,979. “This pro-poor initiative would go a long way in up-skilling the students belonging to unprivileged sections of the society through various vocational courses run in government ITIs at free of cost to earn their livelihood in a dignified manner,” said Channi.
The state Principal Secretary, Technical Education, Anurag Verma emphasized on the need for synergy in Industry and Technical Education and Industrial Training. “The Dual System of Training (DST) being implemented in collaboration with industry is a positive step in this direction. Under the system, the students would be given theoretical training and practical training of six months each in an industrial concern,” he added.
Verma said that 413 such units would be run under DST to benefit 8,500 students to be gainfully employed. “Tie-ups or collaborations have already been made with reputed industrial houses viz Hero Cycles, Trident Limited, Avon Cycles, Swaraj Engine Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra, Federal Mogul (Patiala), Godrej & Boyce Limited (Mohali), International Tractors Limited (Sonalika) Hoshiarpur, NFL Bathinda and Nangal, Hero Eutectic Industry (Ludhiana), Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (Nangal) besides Lakme India Limited, Hotel Hyatt and Hotel Taj,” he said.