Media Release

Mangaluru, Feb 24: St Aloysius ITI had organised a day-long seminar on February 23 for the principals and training officers of private ITIs of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts on the topic ‘Standardisation of ITI-Present & Future’. Directors and principals of other states also participated in the progarmme. The seminar became an excellent platform to identify and discuss the challenges faced by ITIs and how to overcome them.

The seminar began with the inauguration of newly constructed well equipped conference room ‘Samipya’ by Fr Dr Leo D’Souza, former director of the institution. The conference room was blessed by Fr Dionysius Vaz, rector of St Aloysius Institutions.

The seminar was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by the dignitaries. Delivering the welcome address, Fr Eric Mathias, director of the institution said, “Collaboration is one of the core values at St Aloysius Institutions. We believe in collaboration. We have named our new conference room as “Sampiya”, which means closeness or nearness, closeness with the divinity and fellow beings.”

The chief guest of the programme was Vinod Kulkarni, head-CSR, Tata Motors. Inaugurating the seminar he said, “Collaboration is a must in today’s world. Competition is good, but the collaboration is far better. Today, even the industries collaborate with each other and get mutually benefitted. St Aloysius ITI has taken the right step in this direction, by organising this seminar. By collaboration, everyone can grow together.”

The main resource person of the seminar, Syed Amanulla, former deputy director, department of Employment & Training, government of Karnataka was felicitated during the inaugural programme for receiving ‘National Brand Ambassador for Vocational Training-2014’ award from government of India.

In his presidential address, rector of St Aloysius Institutions Fr Dionysius Vaz said, “As a carpenter sharpens his saw teeth regularly, it is very necessary to sharpen our knowledge and skills. Otherwise, we would become stagnant and in no time would be outdated. We have to rise up to the new challenges and always strive to give the best to the students and society.”

The other dignitaries on the dais were Dr Joseph Stanley, general secretary, SKIP; Bro Thomas, former chairman, SKIP and Bro P T Joseph, regional secretary, SKIP. The first session of the seminar was about ‘What are the expectations of industries from ITIs?’ Various studies suggest that the root cause of the problem of unemployment is the mismatch between the skill sets possessed by prospective candidates and the industrial requirements. In an honest attempt to address this issue, industry people were invited to share their opinion about ITIs and their requirements. Venugopal, manager HR and admin, M/s Selco Solar Light Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru; Vinod Shetty, workshop manager, M/s MCF, Mangaluru and Jaideep Rai, AGM, M/s Mandovi Motors were the speakers. After their presentation, the participants interacted with
them.

The second session on ‘Upgradation of ITIs to suit industrial requirements and employment opportunities’ and third session on ‘How to change the attitude of general public towards ITI?’ were conducted by Syed Amanulla, who himself is an example how ITI education can be the stepping stone for success. He after doing his ITI course in fitter trade continued his education to become graduate Engineer and then MBA.

In the final session, there was a panel discussion on ‘Problems faced by it is’, where the heads of institutions shared the problems and made an attempt to find the feasible and effective solutions.

The programme was commenced by a hymn sung by Wilson N, junior training officer of the institution. Chief guest of the programme Syed Amanulla said, “I feel very much honoured and happy to be a part of this excellent seminar. May this seminar inspire us to think innovatively and inspire us to take ITI training to the higher level.”

Conveners of the seminar Roshan D’Souza and Robin Vas were felicitated during the programme. Certificates of participation were distributed to the participants.

Fr Eric Mathias SJ delivered the presidential address and said, “I feel proud to have organised this seminar which I believed has benefitted every one. We believe in working together in team and are ready to share our facilities with other institutions. You can bring your students and conduct seminars in our newly inaugurated state of the art conference room ‘Sampiya’. May the collaboration we have with each other benefit our student.”

Flavia D’Souza, training officer, SDM ITI, Vamanjoor and Naveen Kumar K S, principal, BA, ITI, Thumbay shared their opinions about the seminar on behalf of the participants and expressed their gratitude for organising the fruitful seminar. Vincent Mendonsa, principal rendered the vote of thanks. Robin Vas conducted the proceedings of the seminar. The seminar concluded with the singing of national anthem.