97% of seats in 400 state-run ITIS filled

MUMBAI: As many as 91,117 students have been admitted to over 400 government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIS), which have a combined intake of 94,248.

Even as the number of aspirants for vocational courses in Maharashtra has remained more or less constant in the last couple of years, the state's governmentrun ITIS witnessed a surge in enrolment. The proportion of the seats filled in these institutes has increased from last year's 92.43% to 96.68%.

The state has around 1.38 lakh seats in government and private ITIS, which impart short-term vocational education courses for electrician, diesel mechanic and plumbing. Admissions to private ITIS will continue till August 31.

After witnessing a surge two years ago, the number of aspirants for vocational courses offered at Maharashtra's ITIS has come to a standstill. This year, the state's directorate of vocational education and training (DVET) received 3.09 lakh applications for the centralised admission process (CAP) of all state-run and private ITIS. Last year, 3.19 lakh applicants had registered for CAP. DVET expects to receive around 10,000 more applications after the results of secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations and during the institutelevel admissions in private ITIS.

In 2015, when the state introduced the centralised admissions, around 2.83 lakh students had applied to ITIS. The subsequent year saw a 11% jump in applications, with 3.13 lakh applicants for CAP. The rise was less steep last year, with around 6,000 more students getting in the fray.