To carry forward the Skill India initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Centre is planning to introduce skill education into formal schools like those affiliated to CBSE and ICSE to enable the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) graduates to pursue regular courses in other schools and colleges.
HRD Ministry has accepted a proposal in this regard mooted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship which is likely to benefit over two million students graduating from over 13,000 ITIs every year.
"A separate board on the lines of CBSE and ICSE will be set up which will award certificates at par with those given to students clearing class 10 and 12 from regular boards. This will help ITI graduates to pursue regular courses in other schools and colleges," a senior HRD Ministry official said.
Once the proposal is formalised, the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) will be authorised to conduct academic examination and certification for class 10 and 12 for the ITI students. "Following consultations with CBSE, UGC, NCERT and state education boards, bodies like UGC and AICTE will be informed that they should instruct all colleges and universities to recognise ITI graduates as class 12 pass outs," the official added.
Bihar Skill Development Mission (BSDM) CEO Dipak Kumar Singh who's efforts in skilling the Bihar youths has been able to check students' migration in recent months termed the HRD Ministry's initiate as a great towards integrating vocational education with the regular stream. "Am sure this shall attract good students towards ITI too. We wholeheartedly welcome the step," said Dipak when sought his comments.
"Modi government launched the much-hyped scheme on July 15 2015 with a corpus of Rs1,500 crore and an aim to train 2.4 million youth. But the first phase has seen just 5 percent placement and that too mostly in low-skill blue-collar jobs thus beginning from school will be a great idea," said the HRD Ministry official. The government has increased its allocation under the skills training programme in this year's budget with two new schemes by Rs6,000 crore.