Mangaluru, Aug 16 (KNN) Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy has said that the ministry has plans to set up training equipment parks where ITIs in the country can have a look at the state-of-the-art training equipment.

Interacting with the members of Kanara Small Industries Association (KSIA), the  minister said "Most ITIs are not aware about the availability  of such equipment that can change the way skills training can be imparted, Such parks could come up in various parts of the country and be stream specific such as robotics, automotive and so on.”

Elaborating the other plans of the  ministry, Rudy said that the other major lacunae that the ministry is striving to address is to recognize the two-year ITI training obtained by class eight and 10 dropouts to help them study further.

"At present, there are nearly 1.8 million ITI trained students who hit a roadblock in their quest to study further as their qualifications  are not recognized for entry into plus two or degree level," he said. The ministry will ask National Open School (NOS) to conduct a language test for such students to grant them equivalence.

Minister also stated that once NOS certifies a student, he/she can seek admission for higher studies with either central or state education boards.

This will ensure that an ITI student is not denied the right to higher education, be it technical or professional, he said. Such an endeavour will push more students to take up skills education in the knowledge that they can pursue their higher education. "The guidelines will be issued this week," he said.

Welcoming industries to train students and become skill partners with the government, Rudy said the ministry will pay the industry for training the students.

"The industries, in turn, must identify the potential work areas where there is dearth of trained manpower and also, the catchment area for such manpower," he said, adding that Mangaluru could be considered for the pilot project in this regard. (KNN Bureau)