Learning hospitality: A road less travelled

PITHM is a hotel management and culinary school, providing short courses

KARACHI: Young men and women, with aprons tied around their waists, are perched on a ladder. With brooms and cloth, they are wiping dust off from fans and lights of the room.

“No, we are not preparing for an event,” laughed Pakistan Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (PITHM) housekeeping supervisor Zafar Ahmed. “It’s a housekeeping class in progress. This is practical training going on.”

At a time when everyone is opting for business, accountancy, medicine and engineering for higher studies, the option provided by this hotel management and culinary school is a whiff of fresh air. Established in 1967, the institute claims to offer tourism and hospitality courses of international standards. Currently a semi-autonomous body, PITHM is offering a wide array of courses and postgraduate diplomas, ranging from tourism and hospitality to food and beverage production and junior chef courses. These courses span over a period as short as four weeks.

“Normally, students who are rejected and waiting for readmissions elsewhere enrol here,” said PITHM director Niaz Ali Malkani. “It is basically a vocational training institute, so those planning to enter the field of hotel management or want to become chefs get a good start here.”

The kitchen buzzing with activity is all about sizzling sounds and appetising aromas. Gathered in groups of five around their work benches, a young man flips an omelette in a pan for his classic club sandwich while a girl clad in standard white chef overalls prepares her coleslaw.

“Today, they have to play around with the standard sandwich recipe,” explains renowned Chef Aamir of Zaiqa TV who also teaches at PITHM. “I’m particularly interested in how they will fit in these pineapples in a sandwich.”



The institute is equipped with five spacious classrooms, three training kitchens with working benches, a functional bakery, a computer lab and a library. More than 700 students earn a good base for their respective careers, of which 20 per cent are females.

The basic criteria for each course is intermediate level education, while the prerequisite for other short courses like bakery and desserts and Chinese cookery is matriculation.

“We encourage girls to enrol for the tourism and hospitality courses,” said admissions counsellor Tariq Moin. “We are always in need of good communication and hospitality skills and our girls are naturally gifted with that.”

With the advent of even the most traditional of businesses operating online, culinary delights like cakes and desserts have gathered a strong entrepreneurial base in Pakistan with the help of the Internet. Aliya Ali, who completed her food and beverage course in 2010, said that she uses Facebook regularly to get contracts for birthday parties.

“Working from home on your own is always an available option,” agrees the teacher of food and beverages, Chef Shoaib Qureshi. “But training and theory before practical work never goes wasted.”

Until some time ago, PITHM was the sole provider of trained personnel in the majority of the hotel chains found in Karachi. Today, many suffer from setbacks in their careers due to security concerns. “The business of hotels is definitely going on the downside in Pakistan,” said Moin.”But apart from the United States, our pass-outs are able to land jobs in any market across the world.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2015.