Upgrading ITIs: Need to make vocational training truly aspirational

A ranking system may encourage private-sector ITIs to improve. But to be meaningful, the starting point needs to be convincing more young people to enrol and getting better job placement guarantees

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship’s reported proposal to introduce a ranking of India’s Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) is a good one but urgently needs to be complemented by a significant upgrading of these institutions. The idea is to conduct annual rankings of ITIs on the lines of the National Institutional Ranking Framework for higher education to help students and potential employers to assess their quality. The idea is not new: In 2017, the Directorate General of Training had introduced a grading framework to make ITIs eligible for affiliation on the government portal, or financing via