Stich in time: These Punjab ITI girl students turn mask-makers in the battle against virus
LUDHIANA/ BATHINDA/AMRITSAR :
Shiv Kumari, 18, a student at Industrial Training Institute (ITI Women), Ghumar Mandi, in Ludhiana has sewed around 2,500 masks in a little over past one month for the frontline warriors battling the Covid-19 pandemic and those living in slum areas.
She is among over 4,600 girl students of 78 ITIs in the state who have made more than 10 lakh four-layered washable masks from their homes during this period. The state directorate of technical education and industrial training is arranging for the raw material either through the administration or with contributions by the ITI staff, residents, NGOs and industrialists.
The masks are provided to the district administrations, healthcare workers, municipal corporation employees, police, asha and anganwadi workers, panchayats, farmers, migrant labourers.
“I learned to make mask from my institute teacher. Also, my father motivated me to contribute for the social cause. Initially, I was able to make 30-40 masks daily but now I can fabricate more than 80 in a day,” says Kumari who is pursuing embroidery course at the institute.
Beant Kaur, a student at ITI (Women), Jagraon, says, “I decided to make masks after I was encouraged by the teachers and principal of the ITI.”
MOTHER OF TWO JOINS THE CAUSE
Charanjeet Kaur, a first-year student of ITI, Bathinda, devotes about four hours a day at her one-room house at Harbans Nagar locality for stitching masks. The cloth to make masks is being provided by State Bank of India officials for free distributions.
A mother of two school-going children, she is among the 35 ITI students from the district who have made about 20,000 masks.
“During the lockdown, our
ITI instructor Jaswinder Kaur held online classes on mask-making. I also learnt about sewing masks from YouTube videos,” says Charanjeet.
Sakshi Taak, a former student of the institute, is assisted by her mother, sister and neighbours in making of masks.
Sakshi’s father is an employee at the local ITI and their colony residents started with making masks for themselves.
“As most of the women in our colony are expert in sewing, they pooled money and started distributing the masks to vegetable vendors. Then, officials of SBI and some NGOs approached the ITI faculty members for making masks as a community service,” she adds.
‘TEACHERS AVAILABLE ON PHONE TO HELP US’
Neha, a student of Government Institute of Garments Technology (GIGT), Amritsar, says, “We did not have experience of mask-making. Our teachers first made a video of how to make a mask and shared it to us through WhatsApp. They remain available on phone to attend to our queries.”
“If I work for 4-5 hours, I make 30-40 quality masks in a day. We have met first target and in case need arises in future, we are ready to work for noble cause”, added Neha, a resident of Guru Nanak Pura locality.
“Apart from stitching masks assigned by the institute, I also got opportunity to prepare same for the residents of my locality. For example, the local gurdwara management provided me fabric for making masks which were distributed to the needy in the area. I also used the fabric I had at home,” she adds.
Institute principal Jatinder Singh, who played an active role in facilitating the students in the cause, says, “Around 100 girls from the institute have stitched 28,000 masks. Five staff members and two volunteers also made their contribution.”
“The district administration provided us most of the cotton fabric for making the masks. We could not provide fabric to the students who live in distant villages, but we asked them to contribute at village level,” he added.
Savita Bawa, an instructor, says, “Our principal provided us electric cutter to cut the fabric. We prepared bundles of fabric after cutting it at the institute. We delivered these bundles with thread and needles at the doorsteps of the students.”
Additional director (directorate of technical education and industrial training) Daljit Kaur Sidhu, said, “For the first two weeks, over 2,200 ITI girl students stitched 2.23 lakh masks. Thereafter, the department motivated more students to contribute for the cause and deputed nodal officers in every district for better coordination. The preparation of masks by students was monitored regularly.”
WORK RECOGNISED NATIONALLY
To appreciate the initiative taken up by the ITIs across India, the Union ministry for skill development and entrepreneurship held a video conference with principals and students of 28 ITIs recently. Of the 28 ITIs, six were from Punjab.
The state department has recommended the names of six ITI principals (Patiala, Rajpura, Raiya, Amritsar, Moga and Mohali) for motivating the students to stitch masks. The department concerned has also sent the names of eight students who made maximum masks in the last 32 days to the central ministry.