Prahlad Singh Patel recently chaired a meeting of the General Body of National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology highlighting the importance of adopting the new National Education Policy.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister for Tourism and Culture (Independent charge) recently chaired a General Body of National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology meeting.

This body is established by Govt. of India as a Society with the objective of coordinated growth and development of hospitality education in India through common curricula, common admission system, common examination and awarding of Degree, Diploma and other distinctions. Minister of Tourism is President of the Society under whose Chairpersonship the Society meetings are held. At present, 88 Institutes are functioning under the academic umbrella of NCHMCT – 21 Central IHMs; 26 State IHMs; 1 PSU IHM; 26 Private Institutes and 14 FCIs.

In his inaugural address, the minister asked the Council and the Institutes to review the curriculum in terms of New National Education Policy by giving priority on start-ups for which model adopted by the Institutions such as Bhubaneswar and Gandhinagar. Institutes can adopt the model to make 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' in collaboration with food aggregator and prioritise start-ups for which a task force may be constituted as per requirement. He also requested all members to hold annual Society meeting.

During the meeting, Patel made suggestions to start practical classes at the Institutes by exploring the possibility of vaccination on priority following all corona guidelines. The Institutes may explore the possibility of identifying iconic sites, libraries, and monuments so that catering establishments in those places can run as start-up initiatives wherein the Institute's students can be involved.  

He also highlighted that the institutes must be developed on international standards to not find geographical boundaries as a hindrance to getting placed.  The Institute may explore to start short programs on different languages to empower students to gain employment abroad.  The IHMs should fulfil in true sense the dream of 'Vocal for Local' initiative of Govt. of India. 

Organised after two decades, the general body's meeting was held virtually in two rounds because of a large number of members. In the first session, all the Principals of Institutes attended the general body meeting. In the second session, Principal Secretary/Secretary of Tourism of State Governments, representatives of the States participated in the discussion. In all, 99 members of the General Body of NCHMCT attended the meeting.