At a time when the government is trying to boost skill development, the state government has continued admissions to courses that have seen a poor response at most government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) this year. In 2017-18 the state government continued to take admissions for several less popular courses like Cutting and Sewing, Craftsman(Food Production) and Fashion Technology in various ITIs which have seen between 0-10 admissions in most ITIs over the last 3 to 5 years.
The admission statistics for 2017-18 across 400 government ITIs over the country have revealed that despite low takers for certain courses over a period of time in certain ITIs the state government has not scrapped these courses thus leading to a severe loss of resources for the sake of running these courses. For instance, at the Amravati ITI, the trade Craftsmen(Food Production) has got only one admission this year continuing the poor trend from 2015 and 16 wherein only 1 and zero students were admitted respectively. Similarly, Cutting and sewing have got between 0 to 5 students in Sangli, Solapur and Gadchiroli districts this year.
"Some courses have almost no takers in certain ITIs year on year. Keeping such courses going means spending on machinery, teachers and other infrastructure for merely a handful of students. " said a senior Directorate of Vocational Education and Training official on the condition of anonymity.
