Thiruvananthapuram: Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandez said here on Saturday that the Centre was planning to upgrade to international standards 500 ITIs in the Government sector and another 1,400 ITIs with the private sector's participation.

The Minister said the Centre would provide a loan of Rs.2.5 crore to each institution.

He said lack of technical knowledge and training were the biggest problem that youngsters faced in the labour sector. The Centre proposed to implement a special scheme to overcome this. Special arrangements would be made to impart this training to the educated youth from the economically and socially backward sections.

Even though 50 per cent of those who worked in the Gulf countries were Malayalis, they too lacked technical knowledge and training, and hence were paid only a meagre salary.