ITIs escape job gloom

Others such as ITI Karjat have improved their placement score to 93 per cent against 88 per cent in the previous year.

At ITI Bhimavaram, nine companies including Coromandel International, Hyderabad, Ashok Leyland, Chennai, Hindustan National Glass & Industries, Naidupeta, TVS Fasteners, Madras Rock Well Industries, Hyderabad, EFCO Hyderabad, Synergies Castings, Visakhapatnam -- came on campus for placement.

"There is a shortage of ITI candidates in the market.

"In engineering, if you need one candidate, you will have 20 available. But when it comes to a trained ITI professionals, you will not find many," said SB Raju, chairman, Institute Management Committees, ITI, Bhimavaram. ITI charges a fee of Rs 120 per year which can also be paid in installments.

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Experts say increase in the interface between companies and ITIs is also responsible for the improvement in placements.

At Mumbai-based Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers, which has three ITIs functioning under it, companies are invited on campus to be part of the teaching process level and thereby assess students.

"It is about getting the company involved in the process so that they know where the student stands.

"It is a technical school which is hands on. We believe that if companies say they do not find talent which matches their requirement, we should get them involved," says Kavi Luthra, vice-president, Strategic Alliances at Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers.

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Companies including, Shapporji Pallonji, BE Billimoria, Tata Motors, Four Seasons, Ashok Leyland, etc, participate in the placement process at the ITIs.

The institute also asks companies to come to the campus and give motivational talks to students.

"Recently, a company directly picked up five students who are now drawing Rs 10,000-plus per month. Many companies have started recommending our institutes to other companies," adds Luthra.

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Not surprisingly, seats at these ITIs are also in demand. For instance, at ITI Karjat, which is handled by Rustomjee Academy, 1,112 applications were received for 404 seats in 2011.

Similarly, the academy's ITI at Andheri received 801 applications for 249 seats.

It received 93 and 100 per cent placement at its ITIs at Karjat and Andheri respectively.

As a pilot project the ITI has organised entrepreneurship lectures for all the students at ITI Khar.

"We identified seven students out of 200 who have shown courage to start their own enterprise. We are also helping these students to generate funds from a Venture Funding firm, Sun Apollo," added Luthra.

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Career Launcher's CL Educate, which has around 21 ITIs under it -- 15 in Punjab and 6 in Karnataka -- has seen 100 per cent pass rate.

The company in its institutes at Punjab charges a fee between Rs 2,000-3,000.

The fee is a state subject, and move as per what the state decides.

"Today, we have got a 100 per cent pass rate. We have done a lot of advocacy exercise with the local community.

"We have a number of textile industries around and these companies come and pick up students.

"Many of the ITI passouts favour self employment.

"There is a case for entrepreneurship and micro financing here.

"This will lead ITIs to excellence," says Sanjay Shivnani, President & CEO, Vocational Education Training, CL Educate.

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The impact of the placement boom has been significant. For example, Satish Mungeka has just gifted himself a new cellphone which he bought from his first salary.

A recent pass-out from an ITI in the interiors of Maharashtra, Mungekar recently bagged a job with an engineering company at a salary of Rs 10,000 per month.

This when his family's annual income was Rs 25,000 per annum.

Ditto with Datta Tare, a students living in the interiors of Karjat, Maharashtra, who after completion of two years of hospitality management from the local ITI has been selected in the Food Production department of Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai, at a monthly income of Rs 8,000 per month.

His family's annual income is Rs 30,000.