Preparing young people from underprivileged communities for employment in the hospitality industry.
Duration: 2017–ongoing
Location: Bodh Gaya town, Bihar

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Though the COVID pandemic has resulted in a massive setback for the hospitality industry, it remains one of the largest employers in India and, as soon as the economy returns to normal, is expected to generate 3,00,000 jobs annually.

The Bodhgaya Hotel School (TBHS) is located ina historic town built at the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment under the Bodhi tree nearly 2,500 years ago.Today Bodh Gaya town is a busy tourist centre. Home to one of the most sacred Buddhist sites, it attracts lakhs of visitors from all across the Buddhist world.

TBHS: TheObjective
To provide youth from underprivileged backgrounds with quality training that ensures skill development, job-readiness and high employability in India’s rapidly growing hospitality sector.

TBHS: The Institution
The Bodhgaya Hotel School is a unique institution—a school attached to a twenty-room hotel that caters to Indian and international guests. TBHS thus provides its students a real-life learning environment, whilst also generating revenue to make itself financially self-sustaining in the long run.

All services for hotel guests are prepared and executed by students under the supervision of the teaching faculty. Students can opt for one of two eleven-month diploma courses: Food Production; or Hotel Operations.

Conceptualized by the EHLsmile Association of Switzerland, TBHS was initiated by Agragami India and the International Foundation for Population and Development, which is committed to providing financial support to the school.

The EHLsmile Association was formed by the alumni of the Ecole Hôtelière Lausanne (EHL), one of the world’s leading hotel schools. The EHLsmile Association provides TBHS with technical support—including curriculum and teaching methodology development. It also regularly monitors and assesses TBHS operations to ensure that training quality standards are maintained.

The first two batches of students graduated in September 2018 and September 2019. The COVID pandemic delayed the graduation of the third batch to April 2021.
All students who sought a job placement have been successfully placed.

A hotel room at the Bodhgaya Hotel School

Students at the school