The Union Cabinet has taken few important decisions today. Most importantly, the national scheme for upgradation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and establishment of five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling has been approved as a centrally-sponsored scheme.
A budget of Rs 60,000 crore would be set aside for the scheme over five years of which the Central government’s share of the fund would be Rs 30,000 crore, the states’ share would be Rs 20,000 crore and industry share would be Rs 10,000 crore. Half of the Centre’s shae will see equal co-financing by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. The outlay is expected to skill 20 lakh trainees over a period of five years, fulfilling the industry demans of various sectors of high growth.
Approval has been given for the academic and infrastructure expansion of five new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala and Karnataka.
Instead of a government-only approach, the scheme will embrace an industry-led Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) approach. It is hoped this will enable it is and industry to collaborate when it comes to planning/designing the curriculum, as well as managing and upgradating the infrastructure.
Special attention will be paid to training of trainers (ToT), with infrastructure being upgraded for five NSTIs. About 50,000 trainers will be given pre-serive and in-service training. This will improve the quality and consistency of vocational education across India.
The objective is to reduce the gap that exists between what the industry demands and what is being offered. Course content will be updated in line with modern requirements so that employability can be improved. This is expected to make vocational training more sought after in the future.
The skilling scheme will help push the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047 with an expanded ITI network, which presently comprises more than 14,600 institutes with 14.4 lakh students.
