ITIs get new subject on skill thoughts of historic personalities

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Mangalprabhat Lodha said, “The idea is to make students understand that skill education is nothing new but was given great emphasis by historic personalities.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj built so many castles, encouraged entrepreneurship in his kingdom.

Very few people know that Mahatma Jyotiba Phule ran a construction committee and was part of many construction works in Pune such as Katraj tunnel, and Bund Garden bridge, which are considered as iconic structures.

These are various different facets of these great personalities from history which were never explored.” Lodha added that along with their thoughts on skills, this new subject will also help students learn values of the great personalities. Five historic personalities have been shortlisted — Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Lokmanya Tilak and Swatantryaveer Sawarkar. A committee was formed to prepare a dedicated textbook on skill thoughts of these persons.

Lodha said, “In olden times these people showed a great creativity in construction, entrepreneurship and other skills. We want skill education students to learn such creativity and be a trusted, talented manpower in today’s time of artificial intelligence.”

Director of Directorate of Vocational Education and Training Digambar Dalvi, said, “Considering that it is just the beginning of the new program, it will not have marks or grades this year. But in future we are considering if it can be brought under evaluation.”