Putting skill over degree, 4,215 students who scored over 80% in Class X join ITIs in 2017

Mumbai : Several thousand students from across Maharashtra who scored over 80% in class X have signed up to join an Industrial Training Institute or ITI this year. These training centres never had any pull. In fact, they always catered to a dull necessity. An ITI was for someone who seemed to have just run out of choices. But in a recent trend, which seems to have solidified since 2015, a seat in an ITI is now hotly contested.

Data from the state’s Directorate of Vocational Education & Training (DVET) shows that 4,215 students who scored over 80% joined ITIs in 2017. Of them, nine were among state toppers with a score of over 95%.

The reasons were too varied to fall into any trend. Bhagwan Jadhav, who scored 94.9% in class X, was expecting to ace the HSC too, but typhoid laid him low and he failed to clear class XII. “We had put all our money in his class XII education. But he did not pass. There was no other option left,” his father Balaji Jadhav said.

For some others, the unemployability of graduates from engineering and other degree courses is a put-off. For some like Saiprasad Bankar, who studies in Government ITI, Panhala, and scored 93.8%, it is passion. “I am very interested in the trade of plumbing. So I am here,” he said. His father is a farmer in Kolhapur.

“The ITI needle has shifted over time. From being a last resort, it is today a career option because jobs are almost guaranteed,” said Anil Jadhav, director of DVET. The curriculum has altered, courses have been modernized and placements are in full swing, he said. “Today, industry looks at ITIs as a source of ready-made employees, not cheap labour.”

A Teamlease report titled “Professional education versus vocational skilling: What pays better” says salary levels of electricians were on a par with accountants in 2013 and 2015. “(Also) across most sectors that hire engineers—automotive, construction, food-processing, healthcare, retail—specific blue-collar job profiles are paid 10-27% higher than engineering jobs.” Over the last few years, some trades have recorded full capacity: electrician, architectural draughtsman, furniture and cabinet maker, surveyor, and fitter. Fittingly, across 417 government and 496 private institutes in Maharashtra, there is an increase in demand for ITI courses.

Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.