An ICS Career GPS initiative
Event Report By: Ms Sanchita Dwivedi
Much before Covid19 and the lockdown hit us, people in the northern-most part of the country had been learning how to live with new rules and adapt to new realities, following the creation of the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
Amid all the changes they were grappling with, there was an immense need of professional career guidance. This was evident during a recent webinar in which leading educationist and career consultant, Dr Amrita Dass, Founder-Director, Institute for Career Studies (ICS), addressed thousands of J&K students, their parents and scores of counsellors and teachers.
Their queries at the event ‘Future Readiness for Post-Covid Careers’, organised by the Directorate of School Education Jammu (Counselling Cell) and ICS, were truly wide-ranging. Here’s a look at some of them:
*Students link marks with success. Many don’t think beyond IITs and other prestigious institutes. How can we change this mindset?
*In rural J&K, how do we prevent girls from dropping out of school? Health and mental wellness are also two big issues for them.
*Very often, in villages, there is no wi-fi and the local teachers are ill-informed. How do we take quality education and career awareness to children?
*Parents wish to live their dreams through their kids. How can we change this trend?
*How can we take career guidance to school dropouts?
*I have passion for civil engineering but after Covid, everyone’s advising me to go for robotics. Should I pursue my passion or a safe career option?
*Medicine or computer science; what makes for a better career?
*Some children have unrealistic career expectations. How do we tell them that it’s important to have fallback options as they chase their dreams?
Deftly handling all these queries during the session, which was interspersed with educative and entertaining anecdotes and video clips, Dr Dass highlighted the need for students to ‘Know Themselves’, ‘Inform Themselves’ and ‘Plan for Themselves’.
“It must be a ‘Career by Choice, Not Chance’. The good news is that today, there are more seats than students! Education has become a buyer’s market,” she said while encouraging students to go for their best-fit careers.
Dispelling Myths
High Marks are not equal to Professional Success
“Don’t let your school years be all about scoring high marks. Try and make the best of your time at school by participating in co-curricular activities and sports. Universities have quotas for extra-curricular activities and sports. If you excel in any of these, you can get into a course of your choice through this route despite not scoring high in some subjects. For competitive exams too, the cut-off requirement shows that success is not related to high marks,” said Dr Dass.
There are ‘No Ideal Careers’, only ‘Ideal Choices’
Answering a student, who was confused what was the ‘best’ option for her to pursue — medicine or computer science, Dr Dass said, “What is ‘best’ is a career that you will excel in and also enjoy. There are many exciting career options through both these streams. Also, if you want a combination of medical studies and computer science, go for bioinformatics! You can also choose to learn from these subjects and move into something completely different such management, law or civil services!”
Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide
Addressing some counsellors’ concerns about patchy internet connectivity in rural J&K, Dr Dass suggested using community radio and FM radio to bridge the gap and generate awareness about education and career guidance. “A public-private partnership for radio outreach can help us reach the unreached. Peer counselling is also a good idea for disseminating the right information. Recently, ICS trained counsellors from remote parts of Uttaranchal and UP. Our aim is to provide equitable solutions for all,” said Dr Dass.
Understanding Gen-Z, the Task-Switchers
While advising parents and teachers on understanding how today’s students were different from their predecessors, Dr Dass said, “They are task switchers. They can quickly switch from one task to another. We need to recognize their strengths and change our approach to teaching, making lessons engaging.”
Addressing parents and educators’ concerns of children being easily distracted, spending excessive time playing online games, Dr Dass shared, “The WHO has mentioned gaming addiction as a disease. Parents, teachers, psychologists have to recognise the symptoms.” She encouraged students to practice yogic exercises to improve their concentration. “Active learning brings in focus too. The process of reading, recalling and writing is known to improve learning outcomes,” she said.
Seeking Timely Help
Dr Dass cautioned parents against “fulfilling their dreams through their children”. “Parents must be sensitive and should regularly communicate with their children. Also, students, if you are very stressed, please seek help. Approach someone you trust,” she said.
She advised students to pursue their career dreams with realism and proper planning, including having ‘safety nets’ for tough competitive exams.
“Success happens when opportunity meets preparation,” concluded Dr Dass.
The session had to be extended by an hour due to non-stop queries by enthusiastic participants. Such was the response that senior officials and counsellors of the DSEJ expressed the desire for a series of such webinars with ICS — especially for parents.
— Sanchita Dwivedi
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