State bodies for vocational education are at loggerheads with the union ministry of labour and employment, blaming a sudden change in the curriculum, examination and evaluation systems for the shocking average pass percentage of just 50% in Industrial Technical Institutes (ITI) across India.
State bodies for vocational education are at loggerheads with the union ministry of labour and employment, blaming a sudden change in the curriculum, examination and evaluation systems for the shocking average pass percentage of just 50% in Industrial Technical Institutes (ITI) across India.
What changes were introduced?
The Directorate General of Employment and Training, Delhi, (DGET) which falls under the labour and employment ministry, governs all ITIs. Last year, the DGET introduced the semester system, objective type question paper pattern and negative marking. The states have opposed the last minute changes as they feel they are the cause behind the mass failure in the semester ended last July, results for which were declared in December.
Why is this system not suitable for ITI students?
ITI students are mostly std 8 and 10 passouts. "The objective paper pattern and negative marking may work in IITs and B-schools, but it's not suitable for ITIs considering the age and quality of students. So many changes were implemented too hastily without giving adequate time to institutes and students to get acquainted with the system," said Yogesh Patil, deputy director, directorate of vocational training. "We are worried about the upcoming semester exams in February, when negative marking may impact the results again," he admitted.
How did Maharashtra perform?
Maharashtra registered a pass percentage of just 54% as against 75-80% in the previous years when the semester pattern and negative marking policy were not in place. Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan have also registered dismal performances in the same semester.
Why were answer sheets reassessed?
Interestingly, the negative marking was revoked only for the July semester results in the second week of December. "The OMR sheets of 28 lakh students across India were reassessed and a revised result was declared in December-end, which brought some cheer among all states. Maharashtra's result also jumped to 77% from 54% after reassessment sans negative marking.
Was DGET pulled up for this?
Alarmed by the situation, the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET), which is the implementing authority for the DGET, sent the latter a letter highlighting '18 problems' in the new system leading to the 'disaster' last semester. The list includes negative marking, out of syllabus questions, 50% weightage to the written exam rather than 30% as per the mandate of ITI, and poor quality of OMR-based question papers among others.
More weightage to theory than practicals defeats the purpose of ITIs: Principal
"The ITI imparts 70% practical and 30% theory knowledge. Increasing the weightage of written exams defeats the very purpose of skill development. Moreover, the centre's computerised assessment system is also faulty, which led to failure of even good students," claimed Amarr Prabhu, principal of St. Joseph's Industrial Training Institute, Mumbai, and secretary of the association of non-government ITI in Maharashtra.
Another principal said, "Most of our students are those who ranked among the lowest in the SSC board exams. The ITI course offers such students a good career opportunity. With failed results, they will not get a job."
The labour and employment ministry has a target of training 16,25,000 people in 2014-15. While 52.8% of this has been achieved till October, according to statistics available with union skill development ministry, achieving the rest would be difficult, said an expert.
Director general of DGET, Alok Kumar, could not be contacted for comment.
Vocational education in India
In Maharashtra: 2.15 lakh students in 817 ITIs
In India: 29 lakh students in 11,964 ITIs
Educated in mother tongue, tested in English, Hindi
Interestingly, while all ITIs impart education in their regional language, the question papers which come from Delhi are in English and Hindi. The state has been writing to the Centre since 2009 to make question papers available in Marathi, but to no avail. Shiv Sena leader Yogesh Patil said, "Most students are not comfortable with English. Hindi translation is worse because the course is technical."
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