Bhubaneswar, Jan. 22: Engineering colleges in the state might be bringing their shutters down because of large-scale seat vacancy, however, the government-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are set to double their seat intake.

Following a huge rush for admission into ITIs, the state government is planning to increase the number of seats from the current 7,948 seats to 15,780 seats. “ITIs that have single shifts will run second shifts and those running the second shift will be starting third shifts,” said Hemant Sharma, director of employment mission.

The seat intake of small ITIs that have less than 200 seats will be increased to at least 500. Besides, non-core and non-technical branches such as garment making, data entry, beauty culture and preservation of vegetables would be replaced by core technical branches such as electrical and mechanical.

While these courses have found takers in major cities, the seats are often seen to be lying vacant in rural ITIs.

“This way we will gradually increase the seats. The process will begin from 2013-14 till the end of the 12th Five Year Plan,” said the senior official.

The decision was taken after the state government realised that the institutions could not cater to all the students who wanted to join the ITIs. Officials said that over 20,000 students apply annually for 8,000 odd seats. The reason behind the increasing demand for government ITIs is the tremendous fee difference as compared to private institutes. The rates are highly subsidised and range between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,500 per annum.

The government ITIs also have better faculty members, thus offering quality education.

“The private ITIs are not regulated for fee and thus charge at their own will. Besides, there is a huge demand for candidates from the core sectors. The effort is to provide employment to as many youths as possible,” said Sharma.

There are 32 ITIs being run by the state government. Two new ITIs were added this year at Guma and Mohana in Gajapati district. Following the implementation of the project, the seats will be doubled.

The programme will be a part of aligning ITI education with industries. The state government also plans to recruit 335 assistant training officers. Around Rs 5 crore would be invested in each ITI to improve its infrastructure. A total of Rs 41.81 crore will be spent on the project.