Government ITI students clueless on future

Kakinada: The future of 70-year-old government Industrial Training Institute (ITI) is uncertain with the stage set for hand over more than 14 acre land of the institute to Rangaraya Medical College(RMC) for its expansion. The teachers as well students are in a state of confusion on whether the institute will continue or shut.

The state government announced counselling for admission of 600 students for 2020-21 academic year. Around 40,000 student passed out from the institute in the last seven decades. District collector D Muralidhar Reddy's proposal to hand over the land to the RMC has drawn severe criticism from political parties.

BJP state executive member Duvvuru Subrahmanyam accused the state government of trying to dilute the technical education, in particular ITI trades, which are opted mainly by poor students and a major source of employment for them. He said district officials who have more knowledge on the education have submitted their reports on land availability without any rational thinking.

He faulted the officials for zeroing in on the ITI land when the government sought land for expansion of the medical college.

BJP Kakinada unit president Chintneedi Srinivas said that the party would launch an agitation to protect ITI lands, opposing their handing over to Rangaraya Medical College. Asking the government to find the land for the RMC elsewhere, he alleged that the district officials are behaving like politicians without considering the future consequences in identifying lands for the institutions. He said that many of the politicians are also opposing the move of the officials.

The ITI is running under the Director General of Employment and Training of the Union government and under the supervision and monitoring of the state government. Despite mushrooming of engineering colleges and increasing popularity of graduate courses, ITI courses continue to be popular and students can't even get seats in some popular trades. There are three it is - Kakinada, Jaggampet and Rajamahendravaram - in the district, run by the state government and the remaining are being operated by private institutions.

The government ITI was originally established by the Government of India in the military barracks on rental basis in 1947 and a training centre was opened by the ministry of defense to train ex-servicemen with the name Vocational Training Centre in 1950. The college ITI premises also houses the Regional Director of Employment and Training office and District Employment Offices.