Industrial training institutes in the state are playing a pivotal role in equipping trainees with employable skills and thousands of passouts, over the years, have landed rewarding jobs through campus placements.
Himanshu Guru
Orissa is matching steps with the Centre and has left no stone unturned in equipping young students with employable skills. The industrial training institutes play a vital role in providing skill education. In the state there are close to 600 government and private Industrial Training Institutes (ITI). ITI passouts have landed various high-paying jobs. The government ITI in Bhubaneswar situated in the vicinity of Governor’s House, provides skills training to hundreds of career aspirants. Sunday Post speaks to the principal, faculty members and students of the institute, who have recorded videos demonstrating their multimedia skills and proficiency in making fascinating apparel and embroidery works, about job prospects after ITI.
“After completion of their courses at ITIs, passouts either opt for higher studies or land jobs in different companies. They have the further choice of self-employment. A skilled person has ample career prospects,” said Jeetamitra Satapathy, principal of ITI, Bhubaneswar, since 2012.
“The state has 44 government-run ITIs of which 31 are under the National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT) and 13 under the State Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training. An additional 25 ITIs are being set up by the government. Besides, the state has also 582 private ITIs affiliated to NCVT,” Satapathy said about the facility of industrial training in the state.
Discussing the training facilities in ITI, Bhubaneswar, she said: “The ITI was founded June 25, 1985 and is imparting training to aspiring electricians, fitters, electronics mechanics, ICTSM, refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanics, welders, dressmakers and IT workers. The intake capacity is 693. About 565 trainees were imparted skills during the 2015-16 session. The institute offers short-term courses in Tally, DTP, auto CAD, computer hardware, tailoring and soft skills.”
“The benefits trainees accrue are multiple. After completion of their studies they can apply for a job, or apprenticeship. They can choose self employment or higher studies. We also provide study visits and sports facilities besides scholarship like ‘Prerana/ post-Matric to students where they can get a stipend of up to Rs 15,000 per month,” the principal said.
“Major recruiters are Honda, Synthetics, Maruti, HCL, Benzfab Ltd., Security Engineers Pvt. Ltd., Tata Steel, News 7, Sewzlon Pvt. Ltd., the Indian Railways, Lava mobile and Indutch Composite Technology Pvt. Ltd. More than 15 companies participate in the campus recruitments and more than 60 per cent of the students qualify for jobs,” she said, adding that 41 students from the fitter and electrician segment succeeded in the campus placements this year.
Puspanjali Priyadarsini is a faculty at the Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (COEIT) who joined the institute this year. The young and enthusiastic teacher has expertise in image editing and other Photoshop applications as well as HTML. “In the second year of the course, the advance module is followed which includes Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, editing-cum-animation software Flash, Dreamweaver, 3D Max and sound editing tool Sound Forge. Still and video photography are also taught. Students of the institute have made short documentary films,” she said.
Asked about placement options she replied: “A lot of students have landed dream jobs at the campus selections. Our institute boasts many success stories. Renewsys India Pvt. Ltd. is a Telengana-based company to visit our institute for selection shortly.”
Deepanjali Biswal is a faculty of the Information and Communication Technology System Maintenance (ICTSM) at ITI, Bhubaneswar. A native of Delang in Puri district she is an alumni of the institute who secured a teaching position after the completion of her course. She said: “The ICTSM syllabus includes information technology, electronics, hardware, office automation, and networking of LAN, VLAN, DHCP and VPN. This trade helps in higher studies as a student can opt to do a diploma in computer science or join a polytechnique institute after completion of the course. Students should take training in modular employable skills.”
Nininee Tripathy is a tailoring faculty of ITI who was a student of the 1987 batch of the institute and was appointed as a faculty member in 1992. “Students in my trade learn hand weaving and machine stitching. The course duration is one year and students are taught to make gents wear, kids wear, women’s wear, manual stitching, threadwork and appliqué. They are also skilled in preparing fashionable like soft toys.”
Regarding the job prospects of passouts she said: “Many of our students are well placed. Itishree, a former student, is with a reputed company in Bangalore. Her friends Mamata and Sumitra have also bagged jobs with handsome salaries. Others like Dhaneswar have opened their own boutiques. Harapriya and Sujata own boutiques at Unit VIII and Satyanagar in the capital city, while Anita Sahu has recently launched her boutique at Bhubana in Dhenkanal district.”
ITI students, too, are optimistic about their career prospects. Girish Maharana, a student of ICTSM and a native of Ranapur in Nayagarh district lives at a hostel with his friends at Jaydev Vihar in Bhubaneswar. He is trained in hardware, networking and installation. “Since my childhood I was interested in this kind of work,” he said. “Fault finding is the most vital aspect of this trade. Until you become capable of finding faults, you won’t derive professional satisfaction.”
In Girish’s field, a trainee can either strive for jobs as data entry operators since MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint is a part of the course, or can appear in the SSC examinations for clerkship jobs in both the government and private sectors.
Smrutirekha Das is a second-year student of dressmaking. A native of Bhadrak district she lives at Tankapani Road in the capital city. “I am proficient in embroidery, hand weaving, machine weaving and appliqué. I am also skilled in making soft toys, moti works and fabric painting. I am interested in creative dressmaking and have tried my hand at making salwar suits, divided skirts, tops, lehengas, palazzos as well as glass paintings and threadwork. I dream of opening my own boutique one day,” she said.
Sagar Sahu, a native of Ganjam district, is an aspiring electrician who developed a love for the trade through mending electric appliances at his home. “We take training in generator and transformer mending as well as DC to AC conversion. I can handle up to 10 KV power,” he said.
Thanks to his technical training, he said he could also set up innovative appliances. “We are trained to make fancy fans and LED lights,” he said. Sagar aspires to learn the nitty-gritty of film lighting and wants to pursue training in it.
Second-year student of ICTSM Abhijit Samal who hails from Jajpur bagged a job in BenchFab Technology Pvt. Ltd. through campus recruitment. “I am proficient in hardware, MS office and local area networking. My aim is to become a computer engineer,” he said.
Mamata Mahataray, also a student of ICTSM, is proficient in MS Word, Excel and other software and has taken training in computer basics, networking and technical engineering.
Adarsh Behera, first-year student of COE (IT), said: “We receive training in electronics, hardware and PC maintenance, networking and multimedia. My first choice is multimedia. I am skilled in Photoshop and have designed a number of visiting cards.”
Photos: Y Madhusudan
