Kozhikode: The expansion of the aviation sector has resulted in the mushrooming of low quality training institutes across the state which provide courses after extracting hefty sums from job aspirants. These institutions provide poor training and many hopefuls end up as hotel receptionists.
The popular courses include diploma in air hostess training, aviation and hospitality management, aviation hospitality and travel management, flight purser training, ground operations and airline administration. In Kozhikode there are around 25 such institutions, including centers accredited to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The minimum eligibility for these courses is SSLC and plus-two, and the age between 17 to 24 years.
Honey Kurivilla from Kozhikode said she spent around Rs 2 lakh for the course and got nothing. “Promises like fluency in spoken English, cent per cent job placement and airport and in-flight practical orientation were never fulfilled”, she added. “To fool the students fake interviews were organized”, said Sabija Balakrishnan, another student.
“Later, we understood that the interviewers were from agencies connected to international airlines”, she said. Most of the students in our batch have now ended up in hotels earning meagre salaries”, she said.
IATA state committee president Girish G. said while there was an increase in the number of job aspirants, there was a perceptive lack of quality. “Very rarely do these institutions produce quality students”, he added. “To be true, one need not pay such hefty sums to be trained for a cabin crew job”, he said.
