The CBSE (Central Board Of Secondary Education) is all set to introduce two new courses. One, a vocational course in Food Production and the other in Travel and Tourism. Food production includes food and beverage services, front office management, bakery and confectionery and travel and tourism under Hospitality and Tourism Sectors from the next academic year onwards. It is a five-skill based courses in tourism and hospitality from the academic year 2013-14.
In the upcoming years, India is very likely to see an increase in strength of domestic as well as international tourists, because based on the recent stats around 50 lakh tourists came to India every year. By this, the annual demand for trained manpower in hotels and restaurants is approximately 2.03 lakh per year. These courses will be taught to students of class 11 and 12. Here, students will be able to opt for one language and two academic subjects related to the field as per their interests.
The initiative has been taken after the Central government’s constant emphasis on development of employability skills. Appreciating the move, CBSE co-ordinator Jawaid Alam Khan said that “The new courses will held 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.” Moreover, CBSE will facilitate support to its allied schools offering Food Production and Food & Beverage Services courses by arranging mentor institutes like Institutes of Hotel Management that are under the National Council of Hotel Management and Catering Technology.
