Chennai – Dec 10 (LatestNewsX) – Tamil Nadu is thinking about a fresh way to connect what students learn in school with the skills that employers are looking for. The idea is to set up Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) inside government high‑school and senior‑secondary‑school campuses across the state. It’s a joint effort by the School Education Department and the Department of Employment and Training, part of a wider push to boost young people’s job prospects well before they finish school.
The proposal, still in its early planning stages, centers on a new concept called “School‑ITI.” In this model, industrial and vocational training setups would operate right on the school grounds, letting students pick up technical skills while they continue with their ordinary studies. Senior officials from both departments met on December 4 to hash out the details—structure, who can join, and how practical it would be to roll it out. As a first step, the Employment and Training Department suggested selecting ten state‑run schools to serve as pilots for the Street‑ITI model.
No firm decision has been made yet about a full rollout, but groundwork has begun to assess whether schools have the right facilities and locations. After the meeting, chief education officers in selected districts were asked to compile lists of high‑school and senior‑secondary‑school institutions that could host a “School‑ITI” and submit them within a week. The lists will be judged against a set of prerequisites that a school must meet to be considered eligible.
These conditions include owning at least half an acre of land on campus and having a clear plan to repurpose any unused laboratories or buildings into ITI‑grade workshops and classrooms. Schools that already have a shortage of vocational options nearby or that sit close to industrial zones will be given a priority advantage, as this proximity is expected to give students more real‑world exposure, stronger industry ties, and better job chances once they finish training.
Currently, Tamil Nadu’s ITIs offer a wide array of technical and vocational courses for students after their tenth or twelfth grades, covering trades in manufacturing, electrical, mechanical and service sectors. In 2021‑22, the School Education Department already revamped the curriculum for 11th and 12th grades to focus more on employability. If the pilot is successful and the model moves statewide, the “School‑ITI” concept could dramatically reshape school education by weaving job‑ready training into the everyday learning experience, opening earlier career pathways for students and reinforcing the state’s skilled‑workforce ecosystem.
aal/dpb
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