Delhiites may be able to buy LED bulbs made by students of government-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in time for Diwali this year as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government gets ready to give a boost to technical education students.
Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia said that ITI students making bulbs as part of their course would be teamed up with marketing and management students from other Delhi government institutes, including Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.
“The students make the bulbs at a cost of ₹3-₹4 and the institute was allowing people to buy them from there for ₹7. Products of much inferior quality are sold in the market for ₹15. We will get the students to work together to market the products,” said Mr. Sisodia, adding that the project could be rolled out before Diwali.
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‘Must boost perception’
The marketing teams will visit local markets to promote the LED bulbs, which come with a replacement guarantee in case of defect.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sisodia said that though the ITIs were producing skilled graduates, there was poor public perception of the institutes.
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“People think that IIT [Indian Institute of Technology] means most talented [students] and ITIs mean most unfortunate. My aim is to overhaul the whole industrial education field, with integrated learning between ITIs, polytechnic and other State or Central universities,” said the Minster.
The ITIs have already been integrated with the Bachelor of Vocation courses offered by Delhi government institutes, with graduates getting credit for their ITI diplomas when they apply for under-graduate degree courses.
Mr. Sisodia said that students who complete mechanics courses at ITIs should get credit if they want to pursue higher education in similar fields.