Govt may soon approve setting up a separate board for ITIs

A separate board on the lines of the ICSE and CBSE is likely to be established to carry out assessment and certification of around 23 lakh students passing out from industrial training institutes (ITIs) across the country, official sources said.

The move will enable the ITI graduates to pursue regular courses in other schools and colleges, as the certificates awarded to them will be equivalent to the ones given to Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) pass-outs.

Top sources in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said a Cabinet note for setting up the board is ready after consultation with several departments of the government and may be placed before the Union Cabinet seeking its approval in a month's time.

The board will also subsume Sector Skill Councils, industry-led bodies by NSDC which create Occupational Standards and Qualification bodies, develop competency framework, conduct train the trainer programmes, conduct skill gap studies and assess and certify trainees on the curriculum aligned to national occupational standards developed by them, official sources told PTI.

The proposal for establishment of the board mooted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been accepted by the HRD Ministry, the sources said.