The study was initiated to understand and assess the employment outcomes and professional trajectories of ITI (Industrial Training Institute) graduates across Karnataka. This was particularly important in the context of the STRIVE Project and other parallel initiatives like CoE (Centre of Excellence), Public-Private Partnership (PPP), and TATA collaborations, all aimed at improving the quality and relevance of technical and vocational education in the state.

India’s ITIs are crucial to the country’s skill development ecosystem, supplying semi-skilled and skilled labor to various industrial sectors. However, several challenges such as poor placement rates, low training quality, and misalignment with industry needs necessitated a comprehensive evaluation to gauge the effectiveness of interventions and inform future policy.

The STRIVE Project, in particular, was supported by the World Bank and aimed to:

• Improve institutional reforms in ITIs.
• Enhance infrastructure and learning resources.
• Promote industry linkage and apprenticeship training.
• Build capacity among trainers and management.

This tracer study was expected to generate data-driven insights that would help optimize ITI functioning and contribute to Karnataka’s broader skill development agenda

Objective

• To measure and compare the labor market performance of the project and non-project ITIs and of their trainees            (disaggregated by gender and social groups).
• To assess the employment status (wage or self or higher studies or apprenticeship) of the beneficiaries
• To assess the relevance of ITI training to job markets/livelihood activities and its impact in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability
• To assess graduate/pass-outs’ satisfaction level relating to the type of ITI training attended
• To understand the longer-term impacts of the programme for beneficiaries and what services or type of interventions work better in the long run
• To collect Information on students who are not in employment/have left the employment and the reasons for the same, including Covid pandemic- related reasons.