Two-thirds of faculty posts lie vacant in 14,000 ITIs, govt data shows

Only 73,384 posts filled out of 205,635 sanctioned; Andhra tops with 86% posts lying vacant, followed by Rajasthan (84%) and Madhya Pradesh (82%)

Two out of every three faculty posts remain vacant in close to 14,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across all the 37 states and union territories (UTs) in the country.

According to the data available on the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) portal, only 73,384 ITI faculty posts are filled out of 205,635 sanctioned posts leading to a vacancy of around 65 per cent.  

Of the 20 major states, Andhra Pradesh leads the chart with 86 per cent faculty positions lying vacant, followed by Rajasthan (84 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (82 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (81 per cent). Tamil Nadu (28.6 per cent), Chhattisgarh (31.7 per cent), West Bengal (35.8 per cent) have the lowest faculty vacancies among the major states.

This comes in the wake of the report released last week by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on skill development, expressing concern at the high number of vacancies in the ITIs across the country, and urging the ministry to address the issue at the earliest.

Santosh Mehrotra, visiting professor, University of Bath and former Planning Commission member, explained that the present situation arose due to the scant attention given to the quality, certification or regulation by the government.

“Until 2006-07, there were hardly 1,500 private ITIs. As the need for a larger skilled workforce grew, the prescribed NCVT norms on building infrastructure, equipment, pedagogy and faculty were relaxed. This resulted in a disproportionate growth in the number of private ITIs across the country. On the other hand, industry continued to free-ride without putting its money into these establishments. As a result, the entire system became a supply-driven enterprise initially. Today, it's neither supply-driven, nor demand-driven”, he added.  

The disproportionate growth of private ITIs is also evident from the fact that the faculty vacancies are more in private ITIs (68 per cent) than the government ITIs (56 per cent).

Apart from regulatory changes, Mehrotra said a sound financing model needs to be developed for the revival of ITIs. “We need to ensure employers have their skin in the game. This is possible through a reimbursable industry contribution (RIC) tax levied on the employer, meaning that an employer will be charged 1-2 per cent of its total payroll and will be reimbursed when employers train using public/private infrastructure and provide data. RIC, which has been implemented in 62 other countries, was recommended in the 12th Plan and is an idea whose time has come,” he adds.

ITIs are one of the earliest institutions setup in the country to produce a skilled and trained workforce. Set up under the Craftsmen Training Scheme in 1950 by the Directorate General of Training (DGT), under the Labour Ministry (now under Skill Ministry), ITIs provide training for a period ranging from six months to two years in over 100 different specialties to both secondary and post-secondary students to make them industry- ready.