Thursday 3 January 2013

CBSE course in hospitality, tourism soon

LUCKNOW: India is witnessing a burgeoning growth in tourism and hospitality industry.

In a bid to tap its growing potential, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to introduce five skill-based courses in tourism and hospitality from the academic session 2013-14.

Recent statistics (as mentioned in the CBSE letter) say over 50 lakh foreign tourists come to India every year.

In comparison to this, domestic tourism is significantly greater.

In the upcoming years, India is likely to see an increase in strength of domestic as well as international tourists. Going by this, the annual demand for trained manpower in hotels and restaurants is approximately 2.03 lakh per year.

In view of the acute shortage of trained professionals, CBSE has introduced two vocational packages under the hospitality and tourism sectors.

The courses will be taught to students of classes XI and XII. The courses include food production, food and beverage services, front office management, bakery and confectionery, and travel and tourism. The initiative has been taken after the Central government's constant emphasis on development of employability skills.

For the new vocational subjects meant for classes XI and XII, students will be able to opt for one language and two academic subjects related to the field as per their interests.

Appreciating the move, CBSE coordinator in Lucknow Jawaid Alam Khan said, "The new courses will help students who want to foray beyond engineering, medical and other conventional fields and are inclined towards tourism and hospitality industry. But the board and the schools should pursue it strongly.''

Citing an example, Khan said sometime back the board had introduced a course in financial marketing management in schools but it failed. "Students who passed with the subject faced umpteen problems getting admission at higher levels. Thus, it was more of a deterrent rather than of help to the child. Universities and colleges should be prepared to take in such students," said Khan.

CBSE will also facilitate support to its allied schools offering Food Production and Food & Beverage Services courses by arranging mentor institutes like Institutes of Hotel Management (IHM) that are under the National Council of Hotel Management & Catering Technology (NCHMCT). These schools can also seek financial support from the Ministry of Tourism for successful implementation of courses.

The NCHMCT, which is the specialised body for joint certification, is exploring possibilities for providing students passing the course with an additional weightage in entrance examination for graduate courses in Hotel Management in the IHMs across the country.

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