Tamil Nadu, FRSN renew pact to build future-ready ITIs
The focus on employability skills and placements in 2019 has grown into a movement to reimagine how young people are skilled, supported, and empowered to shape their futures.
CHENNAI: The Future Right Skills Network (FRSN) and the Department of Employment and Training (DET), Tamil Nadu, has been transforming the state’s Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), impacting over 1.7 lakh learners.
The focus on employability skills and placements in 2019 has grown into a movement to reimagine how young people are skilled, supported, and empowered to shape their futures.
Over the past 6 years, since the first MoU was signed, the partnership has benefitted 113 ITIs, including 10 women’s ITIs, and impacted more than 1.7 lakh learners. It has enabled over 980 employability skills trainers, trained 191 principals, and supported 420 placement officers in bridging the gap between training and meaningful work opportunities, with 94 student-led placement cells and 27 employability skills labs. Through the Quest App, a digital learning platform, over 83,000 learners are now accessing career resources, digital modules, and self-driven learning pathways to build confidence and employability. TN’s ITIs are steadily becoming hubs of innovation and opportunity.
DET established a state-level task force for Women’s ITIs, and an inclusion strategy has been rolled out across 10 institutions.
At the Tamil Nadu ITI Ecosystem Summit, FRSN and DET signed a new three-year MoU (2025–2028), building on a shared vision to enable ITI learners to be future-ready. Nikita Bengani, director of FRSN, said, “The next three years will be to make every ITI a hub of future-ready skills.”
The roadmap focuses on strengthening employability skills training through blended learning approaches and master trainers so that learners graduate ready for the workplaces of tomorrow.
K Veera Raghava Rao, secretary, DET, added, “We want to engage with organisations in creating more industry connections for ITIs. We are also planning to involve industry experts in teaching at these institutes. TN is leading the way in transforming ITIs as institutions having vibrant connect with industries.”
Rao also said the government will look at creating a TN government ITI alumni network.