varanasi the belief that industrial training courses offered by government industrial training institutes itis is only preferred by economically weak and educationally less qualified sections of society has become a thing of the past in women iti varanasi 80 per cent of the total number of women trainees are graduate nearly half of the strength also hold post graduate degrees in various subjects such enrollment present a picture of unemployment in the region an interaction of toi with the students at women iti also reflected a change in mentality of people towards the courses offered by it is most of the trainees are looking forward to be entrepreneurs in the city and believe that only higher education is not enough to suffice the need after achieving post graduate degree there were several avenues for job however i always had the dream of starting my own venture since the city has immense scope for dress designers and tailors who make a career in designing ethnic wear i think after the completion of the course in july this year i will be in a position to start my own venture as a freelance fashion designer shared isha jaiswal a post graduate in political science from mahatma gandhi kashi vidyapeeth mgkv who is undergoing training in cutting and tailoring as many as 30 out of 31 girls in the cutting and tailoring course are graduates the minimum eligibility for the course is high school shalini another post graduate who is receiving training in skin and hair care course said i will begin with a saloon and then i have bigger plans in this domain most important is to start my own chain of beauty saloons once i receive a stable position in this field according to pooja singh a commerce graduate a common notion that iti courses are for those who cannot study further due to some problems is now fading away the present world need expertise not just a higher degree according to principal b k prasad this trend of inclination of higher degree holders in iti courses began 56 years back in fact some of the trainees also had education till doctorate level he said it may be mentioned that there are as many as 140 women who are being trained by the iti at the moment apart from cutting and tailoring and beauty courses there are courses like fashion technology steno hindi and information technology it old courses like knitting embroidery basic computer applications and electronics have been removed from the course list due to less demand the records show that nearly 75 per cent of the women are from middle class and above middle class families according to prasad it course has gained maximum popularity in just two years of its inception with over 74 enrollments the inclination of women with higher degrees towards iti courses can be understood by the fact around 48 such students are getting summer industrial training at diesel locomotive works dlw and some of