Newstrack

CII, HRAWI to provide subsidised hospitality training

Bhavika Jhaveri - Mumbai

With a view to offset the impact of attrition in mid to low levels in hotels, CII and HRAWI along with Maharashtra's Employment Commissioner plan to provide hospitality training at a subsidised rate of Rs 500 to Class X and XII dropouts. This unique public-private partnership aims to professionally qualify the gathering ranks of school and college dropouts as well as provide them employment.

CII and HRAWI will handpick candidates from a base of three hundred thousand students, all of whom have registered with the Employment and Self-employment department. Kamlesh Barot, honorary secretary, HRAWI, revealed, "The committee consisting of various hotel members will shortlist candidates based on group discussions. The selection model will be similar to that used by five-star hotels. The course will be bi-monthly and will be at par with standard prospectus rates of various institutes."

Nandan Maluste, convenor of Task Force on Industry's responsibility towards Training and Skill development, CII Maharashtra, says, "The CII- TISS Study on 'Livelihoods, Employment and Sustainable Development' had identified hotels and restaurants as one of the high potential employment-generating sector. The response from this industry has been tremendous so far and some within, have already evinced interest in employing these candidates." Currently, 40 odd hotels have expressed interest in providing employment to these students, including Taj and Oberoi. The programme is restricted only to the Western region at present.

CII-HRAWI has also roped in faculties from the top hotel management institutes in Mumbai - Rizvi College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Dadar Catering College and Anjuman Islam 's A K Hafizka Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Tehnology, all of whom have offered their infrastructure and training facilities for conducting the course. The course will include specialisation training in housekeeping, front office or F&B operations, based on the students' choice. The first, week-long module will focus on grooming and English-speaking skills followed by a month-long specialisation training. This will precede a hands-on stint at any of the member hotels of HRAWI for 15 days.

Close to 90 students will be trained in batches of 30 students. Barot reckons that the catering colleges cannot produce the number of students required to meet the demand. "With the introduction of this course, we are looking at filling the manpower crunch in one to three star restaurants and hotels. It will be a boon to the industry," Barot said.