The Hindu : Hotel management students protest inadequate infrastructure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 06, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Hotel management students protest inadequate infrastructure

By K. Ramachandran

CHENNAI Sept. 5 . Students of the Institute of Hotel Management, Chennai, are on the warpath. They have been boycotting classes for the past two days against what they call "grossly inadequate infrastructure, outdated library facilities, a vindictive principal, all of which are leading to dwindling job opportunities for the institute students".

According to the students, the IMH does not have sufficient faculty members for nearly all the important subjects for the three-year course, which has been made into a degree programme, affiliated to the Indira Gandhi National Open University. It was earlier a diploma programme. Even for courses like Sales and Marketing, Food and Beverages Services, Economics, Front Office, Communication and languages like French, "we do not have sufficient faculty," says a third year student. A similar situation prevails in the PG diploma courses that have been started for Accommodation or Food Production.

"Our library is outdated and even those books available can be obtained only with great difficulty. So our students get very poor teaching and learning opportunities," another student claims. Even the entry gate is broken, the entire campus turned into a huge garbage dump owing to long time neglect of upkeep. Dogs roam on the campus, parts of which do not have proper lighting. The standards of toilets and baths are pathetic.

The institute which is supposed to produce managers for the hotel industry does not have adequate dining facilities. The IMH has about 600 students, but the dining hall can only accommodate 120 persons, with grossly insufficient number of plates and tumblers. The food given in the diner is poor compared to that supplied in other institutes.

The students say the institute head hardly listened to the grievances aired in the past three or four years.

The only result was more and more students being suspended on charges such as ragging. Their petitions to the Tourism department have gone unheeded.

"Today, most big names in the hospitality industry reject candidates coming out of the IHM Chennai, because they feel that it is being mismanaged with little attention given for academic work," says a second year student.

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