80% polytechnics not upgraded, 30% women's hostels not built: Parliamentary panel flags delays in scheme

Polytechnic Institutes Upgrade: The scheme for the Upgradation of Polytechnics is nowhere close to achieving its target, highlights a report by a parliamentary standing committee. The panel report states that out of the 499 women hostels to be set up in polytechnics, only 351 are complete. Similarly, of the 295 polytechnics planned, only 159 have been set-up and out of the 500 existing polytechnics selected, only 105 have been upgraded so far.

The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, the nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme, blames states for the glacial pace of implementation.

The report was submitted to the parliament on August 6 by the standing committee on labour, textiles and skill development, headed by BJP MP and former chief minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai.

Polytechnics offer diploma courses in engineering and play a vital role in producing a significant portion of the country’s mid-level workforce. Students can enrol in polytechnic courses after Class 10 or 12.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had launched a scheme on granting autonomy to quality polytechnic colleges two years ago but by 2025, only five qualified. The vast majority of polytechnics suffer from faculty shortage, vacant seats and low employability of students.

Scheme for Upgradation of Polytechnics

The erstwhile “Sub-mission on Polytechnics under coordinated action for Skill Development” project was transferred from the department of higher education, ministry of education, to the MSDE in 2017, as part of the convergence of central skill development schemes. It went to the Directorate General of Training (DGT) in 2018.

Under the scheme Rs 49.90 crore was allocated for the Annual Plan of 2024-25. The allocated amount was to be released to various States/UTs for the completion of the Polytechnics Scheme.

The scheme had a provision for

• Construction of 499 women’s hostels in various polytechnics

• 295 new polytechnics were to be established in un-served and underserved districts

• 500 existing polytechnics were to be upgraded in terms of infrastructure

“The committee [has found] that out of 499 women’s hostels to be constructed, only 351 have been completed; out of 295 new Polytechnics proposed to be set up, only 159 have been set up; and out of the 500 existing polytechnics to be upgraded, only 105 polytechnics have been upgraded. The Committee are of the considered opinion that Polytechnics are one of the keystones of the initiative of the government to upskill the youth in the country,” states the report.

The scheme has a completion date of March 31, 2026.

The reply submitted to the committee by the ministry attributed the delay to several factors, such as:

• Delays at the state government-level

• Pending submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs)

• Delayed Statements of Accounts (SoAs) and Physical Progress Reports (PPRs) from the states

However, the committee called the reasons not “convincing” and said, “The committee would, therefore, like to urge the DGT/MSDE to seriously look into the factors contributing to the under achievement of the targets of the Scheme, evaluate the implementation strategies and identify bottlenecks and administrative or logical challenges that have hindered the progress.”

The ministry also stated that they are requesting states/UTs to adopt faster tendering and contracting procedures to ensure that construction activities are not held up.

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Polytechnic Upgrade: Reduced fund allocation

The committee also noted that when the budget estimate for the scheme for 2023-24 was Rs 106.38 crore, the revised estimate for the year was reduced to Rs 78.67 crore.

“Out of which, the ministry was able to spend only Rs. 66 55 crore resulting in a shortfall of Rs 12.12 crore,” the report stated.

The ministry had stated that as per System of National Accounts (SNA) guidelines that governing fund releases under Centrally Sponsored Schemes, not more than 25% of the earmarked allocation for the State can be released in a single instalment.

“Subsequent releases are contingent upon the utilisation of the released instalment and the SNA balance not exceeding 50% of the proposed release. Based on these conditions, further releases could not be made as the SNA balance was higher, and the state could not submit UCs during the last quarter of the financial year 2023-24, which affected the releases during that period,” the ministry replied to the committee.

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Constitutions of Skill India Centres

The committee has also expressed concern over the small number of SIC in institutes of national importance.

“The committee appreciates the efforts of the ministry that so far 2,778 SICs have been established in different educational institutions which impart skill training. The committee, however, noted that there are only 12 SICs in 31 National Institute of Technology (NIT), 26 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), 23 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and 21 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the country,” stated the report.

The panel has expressed that SICs are important centres for the integration of vocational education with general education.

The ministry informed the panel that it is actively pursuing with the Institutes of National Importance (INIs) such as IIMs, IITs, IIITs, NITs, IISER, etc. to get them onboarded under the PMKVY 4.0 for imparting skills.