Acquiring Hospitality Skills In The Covid Times

The debate is rife whether the virus responsible for causing the Covid-19 pandemic is natural or genetically engineered. Mudslinging is on about who funded the research in virology, which supposedly led to the development of such a potent virus and its unmatched ability to mutate. Whatever be the cause, we all can agree its devastating impact. 

This virus has changed our way of life globally, and not in a mitigable way as it seems. the chances that the world is going to go back to the erstwhile times where it was possible to live our carefree life without the affright of getting infected are very bleak. Each one of us, few exceptions apart, has suffered some kind of loss in our earnings, and huge drop in disposable incomes and as it seems we are back to the survival mode which was not experienced since the Second World War.

The future seems too uncertain, and worse is that youth or students, the future of the world in their formative times are restricted to the world of online learning. The strategies about education and choice of career which worked in the past are not reliable any more. Time being of the essence, education is something which cannot be postponed indefinitely. More than one and a quarter years has gone into the pandemic, many enrolled students have not even entered their dream institutions yet after taking admissions a year back. 

In our societies, private schools have earned themselves a bad reputation for exploiting all stake holders for a spinoff of profits. It is with this prejudice we look at all educational institutions, including the government ones. It is human nature to get angry at the adverse situation and blame someone for that, but does it help us? Is there any let up in the situation shortly? The answer is a clear no. So what is the way forward?

In the challenging times like these, there is a pressing need for investing in public education because, there is so much of experimentation going on in this sector all leading to expenses. In the present situation, all of us being value hunters are thinking about slashing of fees by schools and colleges to account for the facilities and services not utilised by the students, with little regard for the cost structure of educational institutions, and the impact it could have on the morale of people running such institutions. This effort of cutting corners is not going to serve this sector, on the contrary will push it into the vicious downward spiral, harming the student community the most.

The education and technical education in particular was struggling to migrate to the tech enabled system for a long time, it was considered a luxury a decade earlier when the ivy leagues institutes like the Harvard Business School conducted online lectures in different parts of the globe, in different time zones, but in real-time. The technology being cutting edge at that time was unaffordable for most of the other educational institutions then and was considered a luxury, but lately when the technology itself became commonplace, the migration to online classes did not happen as desired to reap the benefits as we know now, but thanks to the Covid pandemic, ten years of normal progress has come through in ten months only. 

While it works like magic for theoretical lessons, for skill acquisition , there obviously are challenges but with time the human creativity and ingenuity will find the way around it through better tech solutions, and it will become possible to conduct practice sessions effectively as well. In the meantime, the students must make the best use of the options available. What educational institutions essentially do is to create simulated environment of their target industry. It can be further scaled down to the level which is possible to be simulated in the homes of the individuals. 

This practice will give people ideas about making the available resources at home into useful implements for service, let’s say, which would be possible to be utilised in organising events in peoples’ homes professionally later on as a outdoor catering event

How does one as a student make the best use of the present situation? 

Nobody contests that these are not difficult times. The times are testing for students, their parents and their teachers alike because none of us were prepared for a situation like this. It is disheartening to note that after a year and a quarter into the pandemic, we are still in the denial mode and wish to rush back to the good old ways. But, going back to good old days might not even be an option anymore. Might be we have to find a way forward for ourselves and learn to live with the virus and may be more and mitigate the risk thereof. 

So what is the way forward? 

There is a cardinal principle in education that ‘’everything can be learnt and nothing can be taught.’’ In my opinion, this is going to lead our student community out of the present dark situation. The gist of this saying is captured in the entrepreneurial learning methodology that we have known for so many years now. The advantage of this form of learning is that student becomes proactive rather than reactive or rather being a judge about what is being proposed by his institution, will work or not work, the student becomes a problem solver and gets engaged in his own learning by exploiting all the learning opportunities and resources which are at his disposal, including the teachers besides the campus, library and other material resources. I would like to end by saying that the best in humans is discovered in adversity. Since nothing more adverse has ever been faced by us, the best learning methodology is also going to emerge in the next a few months.