Punjab: Interruption in ITI admission process
Punjab: Hundreds of students seeking admission in government and private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are facing hurdles in the entire process due to technical glitches in the portal. For the academic session 2025-2026, counselling that usually begins in May has begun in July. There are 52,000 and 24,000 seats respectively in 145 government and 183 private ITIs. So far, 20,000 seats in government institutes and around 500 in private institutes have been filled. Technical Education Minister Harjot Bains has recently announced to increase ITI seats from 25,000 in 2023 to 52,000 this year. He said the department has introduced 814 new trades to meet the needs of the industry and keeping in view the market demand.
Acknowledging the problem, a government official said the issue will be resolved in the next few days. The students said they were not able to choose the trades of their choice and upload their documents. The decision to charge a one-time annual admission fee of Rs 3,350 for government ITIs and Rs 19,315 for private ITIs has also hampered the admission process as most of the students come from poor economic backgrounds. “Now the department has decided to accept the fee on a quarterly basis. The system has been streamlined,” the official said. Shimanshu Gupta, head of the Punjab Private ITI Association, said the fees of private ITIs should be deposited in their accounts instead of the department’s account.
