NITI Aayog proposes setting up separate central board for vocational education

The NITI Aayog has proposed setting up a separate central board for recognition of vocational education, on the lines of an education board such as the central board of secondary education. It also suggested conducting national centralised examinations for admission to Industrial Training Institute (ITIs) to streamline the system and ensure transparency.

The suggestions are part of a report in which the Aayog proposed a seven-pronged strategy to transform more than 15,000 ITIs in India.

It said there is a need for a centrally sponsored scheme for uplifting poor performing ITIs, a comprehensive continuous monitoring process for concurrent review of their functioning and operations, and providing trainee instructors (on the lines of the BEd system) to improve the quality of future trainers while addressing the shortage of human resource at ITIs.

“In order to garner better credibility and recognition for vocational education, it is suggested to extend the current role of National Council for Vocational Education and Training as a National Board for Skill Development which can be a vocational education counterpart of CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education),” said the Aayog.

It said the vocational board can be empowered to conduct examinations and award degrees to ITI students which will be equivalent to academic degrees awarded by education boards such as the CBSE.

“This will facilitate permeability between the domains of general education and vocational education and will make vocational education aspirational for the masses,” said the report.

The Aayog suggested that admissions to ITIs be done through a national level centralised portal, following the pattern of the Joint Seat Allocation Authority used for engineering admissions in the country, similar to the model that exists for all-India entrance tests such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).

“Additionally, admission in ITIs should not be based only on 8th and 10th marks but also include a mechanism for checking aptitude and inclination of candidates for vocational skills,” said the report.

Suggesting changes in administration, curriculum, reporting, monitoring and resource mobilisation, the Aayog said out of a capacity of 2.5 million trainees, only 1.05 million seats are filled across ITIs with dismal placement rates and low social acceptance of ITIs.

The report said there is an urgent need to transform ITIs as they remain underutilised, the quality of training, faculty and infrastructure is in general not of global standards, and most of the trainees are neither employable nor skilled enough to start their own enterprise.