The Economic Survey 2026 , presented to parliament on Thursday, proposes upgrading Industrial Training Institute (ITI) diplomas to bachelor degrees. This aims to boost job prospects and elevate vocational training’s status.
The survey identified persistent issues within the ITI system. These include underutilized capacity, poor training quality, and inadequate faculty and infrastructure. These shortcomings prevent ITI graduates from meeting global standards.
Upgrade ITI Diplomas to Degrees
Upgrading ITI diplomas to degree status offers two key benefits. First, it enhances the prestige of vocational pathways. This addresses the societal preference for degrees, often linked to status and opportunity.
Second, degree equivalence facilitates academic mobility. Graduates could pursue further education, professional certifications, or engineering programs previously inaccessible. This reduces perceived risk for students choosing skills-first training.
The proposal is part of a broader effort to improve skilling for employability. However, the survey notes systemic flaws across skill development initiatives. These issues limit graduates’ employability and entrepreneurial readiness.
In the 2025-26 budget , the government announced a plan to upgrade 1,000 government ITIs. This includes 200 central hub ITIs and 800 spoke ITIs.
The survey highlighted Odisha’s ITI revamp strategy. The state established the Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) in 2016 with a ‘Fix, Accelerate, Scale’ approach. This involved improving existing ITIs, expanding short-term training, and building advanced institutes.
Odisha’s strategy focused on converging skill initiatives, ensuring quality, and developing market-responsive training. The state also worked to build confidence through alumni success stories and public events celebrating skilled workers.
A key development was the establishment of the Odisha World Skill Centre in 2021. This world-class institute, in partnership with Singapore’s ITEES, trains teachers and fosters industry links.
Unify Apprenticeship Schemes
Currently, two separate schemes support professional apprenticeships: the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) under the Ministry of Education.
This multiplicity of schemes creates a compliance burden for businesses. Navigation of different processes and portals proves difficult. Significant regional disparities exist in apprentice registrations.
States like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have over 10 lakh registered apprentices. Many North-Eastern states report only a few hundred to a few thousand registrations. A single unified scheme would improve policy alignment and integration between education, skilling, and employment.
The survey also calls for expanding apprenticeships to new sectors. These include green manufacturing, logistics, and digital services to meet evolving industry demands.
Evaluate Skilling Outcomes
The Economic Survey emphasizes tracking trainees’ post-training progress. Current schemes primarily focus on enrollment and certification numbers.
The focus must shift to assessing sustained labor market value. This includes employability, earnings, and job retention. Evaluation should follow the trainee’s career path, not just administrative cycles.
Concerns were raised about the age of third-party assessments for major schemes. For programs like PMKVY, Jan Shiksha Sansthan, ITIs, and NAPS, the last comprehensive assessments were conducted in 2020-21 .
Given rapid technological advancements and changing labor demands, fresh, outcome-oriented reassessments are needed. These should focus on medium-term employment and earnings.
Under PMKVY 4.0, a key initiative of the Skill India Mission, MSDE has stopped tracking placements. The survey notes PMKVY faces implementation issues. These include data management inconsistencies, funding delays, monitoring gaps, and low placement rates.