Girls getting sidelined during campus recruitment in ITIs

April 29, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 08:18 am IST - BERHAMPUR:

Girls are being sidelined during campus selection processes in government Industrial Training Institutes in Odisha, despite continuing efforts to enhance gender equality during technical training.

Students allege that companies that come to major government ITIs like the one in Berhampur to select probationers usually prefer to choose male candidates. In several cases, these companies make it clear in advance that during their campus selection process only male candidates can apply. Greatest irony is that there are several instances, where Director of Technical Education and Training (DTET) through letter to various government ITIs in the State regarding campus selection process by private companies, clearly marks it out that posts are only meant for male candidates.

This comes as a surprise to girl students as they pursue the same course as their male counterparts but are sidelined when the selection for job starts. There is no bar for girls to take up any course in an ITI. Even after gaining skills in trades like turner, fitter, electrician, electronics etc they do not feel at par with male students of their batch.

Rajat Kumar Panigrahy, principal of government ITI in Berhampur, the largest ITI in Odisha accepts this disparity between girls and boys continuing during campus selection process. According to him the girls are no less in technical skill than their male counterparts. “But the archaic mindset that females cannot take up laborious jobs is becomes a stumbling block for them”, he said. He accepted that several companies who come for campus selection prefer to take only male probationers. As these are private companies, authorities of ITIs have no say over their decisions.

Despite these hurdles girls trained in ITIs are proving themselves. Five girls from an orphanage in Berhampur after getting trained in local ITI are now appointed in Tata Autocomp Systems Ltd, Ahmedabad. They have become role models for girls of Berhampur ITI. But continuing disparity during campus selection for probationers by companies is proving to be a hindrance in the path of slowly increasing interest of girls in technical training after their school education. 33 per cent of seats in ITIs are reserved for female candidates.

According to Mr Panigrahy, Berhampur ITI, which has intake strength of 2124 students, has scope to admit over 600 girl students every year. But total number of girl students getting admitted each year is around 110. He felt that measures by government to stop gender disparity during campus selection by companies can help in increasing interest of girls in technical training. Only when girls start to feel that technical training would make them at par with their male counterparts, they would come out on their own to choose it as career, he added.

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