Hotel management department grapples with shortage of staff

Ravi Chandel

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 19

The hotel management department of Government Rajindra College is grappling with lack of infrastructure and staff. The department offers food production and food beverage services courses.

The limited numbers of seats in these courses are being filled every year since its inception.

At present, the courses are being run under the Higher Education Institute Society (HEIS). The HEIS has to manage the affairs on its own through students’ fee. The Central government through the Punjab Tourism Department only provides one-time aid to the hotel management department.

There are 33 seats each in both courses where students gets diploma certificate after one and a half years, but there are no sanctioned post of the faculty.

The HEIS has appointed a professor to teach 61 students enrolled in these courses. Besides, there is a lab attendant who is also teaching the students.

Apart from this, the lone professor is left with no option but to take classes in the labs due to inadequate classrooms at the hotel management department’s building.

The college authorities have not yet organised even a single placement drive for the hotel management students since 2014.

Pleading anonymity, a student said, “Considering the syllabus of food production and food beverage services courses, we need at least four professors to teach the whole syllabus.”

When contacted, Harjinder Singh, secretary, HEIS, confirmed that there was a shortage of staff at the hotel management department, but they were not able to recruit more staff due to fund crunch.

He said it had become very difficult for them to manage the staff salary in without any aid from the government.

Harjinder Singh, however, said, “Soon, we are going to launch the bakery and confectionery course in the hotel management department for which we have received Rs 19 lakh from the Central government to construct the building. We will recruit two professors and a demonstrator to provide quality education to the students in the coming session.”

College principal Mukesh Aggarwal, who is also the chairperson of the HEIS, also confirmed the department was facing a shortage of staff.