ITIs across state postpone reopening

Kolkata: The state Technical Education, Training and Skill Development department has postponed the opening of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs ) across the state. The institutes were scheduled to open from November 23, abiding by the COVID 19 health protocols. A direction in this regard was sent from the department to the heads of all such institutions last Thursday.

However, a fresh notification was issued on Sunday postponing the opening of ITIs with effect from Monday. It further stated that the institutes will open its doors to the students only after thorough sanitisation, which will take some more time.

The ITIs have been asked to set up assistance booths to facilitate students' admission through online mode. Earlier, students had complained that the cyber cafes were charging heavily for online filling and submission of admission forms. Practical training is an integral part of ITI curriculum, which has been hampered since lockdown from the third week of March.

There are 130 government and 240 odd private ITIs across the state. Final semester examinations that are usually held during July –August could not be conducted this year. The Technical Education department wants to hold the terminal semester examinations latest by January or February next year.