The Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, R.K.Singh provided information about the total ITIs in the country. Information about the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) was given in the Rajya Sabha on February 5, 2021. The minister provided data about the number of ITIs present in the country in 2021 in the form of answers to certain questions pertaining to vocational training institutes. The questions were asked by Mr Bhaskar Rao Nekkanti about the vocational institutes currently functioning in India and their state-wise distribution. Furthermore, he also inquired whether any institutes shut down in the year 2020-21.
The minister stated in the parliament that India comprises of a total of 14779 affiliated ITIs in the country as on January 1, 2021. These affiliated institutes are functioning in the country and a state-wise distribution of the same was also provided at Annexure I. Singh further clarified that a total of 82 ITIs were shut down or not in operation during the period 2020-21.
The concerned ministry provided a count of ITIs present in each state and Union Territory (UT). Uttar Pradesh currently has the highest number of vocational training centres in the country with a total of 3202 ITIs spread across the state. States like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have more than 1000 ITIs each. On the other hand, the lowest number of ITIs i.e., 1 vocational centre is present in Dadra & Nagra Haveli, Lakshadweep and Manipur.
ITIs and other skill-development institutes were established in the country under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)’ scheme. The flagship programme comes under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The primary objective of this scheme is to help and support the youth of India to imbibe industry-specific skillset, helping them improve their standard of living and acquire a better livelihood.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced these government-affiliated training centres to shut down and only a few of them provided online training. Various enquiries were also made to understand skills online for the purpose of starting a new business or switching to another company during the pandemic. However, according to official data, online training sessions were conducted for various ITI trainees. Hence, during the month of July 2020, 288 online sessions were organised in which 1.39 lakh students participated. The PMKVY physical training centres were at that time, being used as quarantine facilities, temporary hospitals, etc. To the public satisfaction, training centres began reopening in October 2020. Various state governments are now in the process of permitting training centres to function.
