This year, state ITIS will take in 2,500 more students

MUMBAI: Maharashtra will likely get 2,500 more seats for vocational courses at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIS), increasing the intake to 1.39 lakh seats.

The additional seats will be available in 12 new private institutes that are set to come up in the upcoming academic year, as well as in the new divisions in the existing private institute. The Central government's directorate general of training (DGT) has approved these new institutes and divisions after a brief freeze on new units, said an official from the state directorate of vocational education and training (DVET).

At present, there are 1,33,084 seats across 79 trades, such as welding, fitting, electrician and sewing, at 417 government and 454 private ITIS in the state.

In the last few years, the state has witnessed a surge in popularity of vocational courses. Around 3.23 lakh students across the state had applied for 1.33 lakh seats compared to 2.83 lakh applications for 1.25 lakh seats available in 2015-16. Around 1.17 lakh students were admitted to the ITIS, up from 1.08 lakh students in the previous year and 1.06 lakh in 2014-15. However, according to experts, most of the applicants seek admission to popular trades such as electrician, motor mechanic and diesel mechanic. "There are courses which are

last year,

much in demand, and there courses for which there are few takers. In fact, the majority of the applications are for a select five to 10 courses. If the additional seats belong to these courses, it will be beneficial," said Shrinivas Sapre, principal, Bombay Technical School of Engineering

ITI, Girgaon.

The centralised admission process (CAP) for ITI courses began on Friday, two weeks ahead of the last year's schedule, and before the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination results are out. Last year, the admission process began on June 14, after SSC results were declared.

While the students can now apply online on the admission portal (www.admission.dvet.gov.in) from June 1, they will be able to confirm their application at one of the admission reporting centres (ARCS) and mark their preferences for institutes and vocational trades from June 4.

A DVET official said that they decided to start the centralised admission process (CAP) before SSC results to allow the aspirants more time to comply with the formalities of the admission process. He also said that changing the admission schedule will also reduce burden on the admission portal, as the online traffic will be diffused.