Students of the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) from across the State staged a protest here on Monday against the introduction of the semester system. There are over 1,400 ITIs across the State.
The protesters urged officials of the Directorate of Employment and Training (DET) to appeal to the Directorate-General of Employment and Training (DGET), New Delhi, to roll back the semester system.
Students staged the protest under the aegis of the All-India Democratic Youth Organisation (AIDYO) and the All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO).
According to them, the semester system in ITIs would shift the focus of ITI courses from being skill-based job-oriented courses to being exam-oriented courses.
After receiving directions from the DGET, the DET, Bangalore, issued a circular to all the principals to implement the semester system in August 2013. Krishna K., first-year student of an ITI college in Bangalore, who participated in the agitation, said the semester scheme would shift the focus of the job-oriented courses.
G. Shashikumar, State Secretary of AIDYO, said that most of the students who pursue the course come from lower middleclass families and that the semester system would “seriously” affect their job prospects.
Responding to that an official in the DET, Bangalore, said that the State would write to the DGET in New Delhi to review the decision to implement the semester system in ITIs.
“There are no clear guidelines about the semester system to be followed. There are both pros and cons that need to be addressed at the earliest so that students’ interests are not affected,” he said.
