Bhubaneswar, Dec. 6: The news is not good for those passing out of state government-run Industrial Training Institutes, which are popularly known as ITIs.
In reply to questions in Assembly last week, technical education minister Sanjay Das Burma revealed that the state government was struggling hard to ensure placement of ITI graduates.
The government has spent Rs 3.38 crore in the past six years to organise fairs across the state to facilitate industrial houses in hiring ITI graduates. However, only 1,827 youths, who hold certificates from the state's 630-odd ITIs, got employed between 2010-2015. To place one ITI graduate in a job, the state has spent around Rs 18,500.
The poor recruitment of technically-qualified youths reflects the government's failure to turn the state into a major industrial hub. The poor placement record comes at a time when the government has claimed to have signed 92 MoUs worth Rs 5.69 lakh crore with various companies. It has also claimed that 45 projects worth Rs 2.45 lakh crore had already become operational.
To make things worse, the government has also been struggling since last year to arrange a job fair for engineering and management graduates because of poor response from private-sector companies.
Giving the break-up of ITI graduates seeking jobs in the state, Das Burma recently told the Assembly: "There are 57,111 ITI graduates, 34,723 engineering diploma holders and 14,156 BTech graduates." These figures were reportedly collected from the district employment registration offices.
The placement record of the ITI graduates in the last few years makes it evident that their demand is on a decline. In 2010, only 823 students were placed. However, the figure came down to 345 in 2011. Last year, the figure further dropped to 66. Only 45 ITI graduates have so far been placed this year.
The poor placement record in the ITIs has also impacted the enrolment of students in the institutes. This year, some 37,216 seats remained vacant in the ITIs. Last year, the figure stood at 28,231. A similar trend was also reported from various diploma schools and engineering colleges.
Yesterday, Das Burma informed the Assembly that placement cells were constituted to constantly interact with the corporate and industrial sector to help students find jobs.
