Mumbai: The government has approved a Rs1,581-crore World Bank-funded vocational training programme for upgrading quality of education at 400 industrial training institutes (ITIs) across the country.

The implementation of the vocational training improvement project, cleared by the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA), is aimed at improving the employability of the trainees.

Under the scheme, the central government will bear 75 per cent of the cost and the balance by the state governments. In case of north eastern states, however, the centre would share 90 per cent of the cost.

The share of the centre would be Rs1,231 crore, while the states would bear Rs350 crore.

"The project aims at improving quality of vocational training, promoting systemic reforms and project management and monitoring," finance minister P Chidambaram said after the CCEA meeting.

"This will bring improvement in internal and external efficiency of the ITIs, including employment situation of the certificate holders," he added.