New careers, exciting guidance

Updated on: Friday, February 10, 2012

Ever thought a degree in medicine could land you a job testing bubble gum or an engineering degree might come in handy in the pencil industry? That's a question that Venkat Matoory throws to a class of teenage school-goers across the country. He is the CEO of Junior Achievement (JA), an organization that helps youngsters figure out what they want to do in life.

"We show students a film on how bubble gum is made, with a doctor testing the gum in a laboratory and a technician pouring fluid into a machine. We want them to understand the level of detail that goes into the things we see around us. We show them how a field as serious as medicine could be used for something as fun as bubble gum," says Matoory.

Not long ago, career counselling was a series of drab sessions on what one could do with science, arts and commerce. But with an explosion of new careers on the horizon, schools are introducing career guidance in a manner that is as exciting as the careers on offer. For instance, GD Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, takes activities such as sports and drama as seriously as academics. "At our school, sports is a full-fledged subject, just like mathematics, and has its own syllabus. So a student knows the ins and outs of a game before stepping onto the field," says principal D M Sharma.

Not surprisingly, the school has several budding sportsmen while only a fraction of students wants to be an engineering or a doctor. Sharma has inspired students to look at options such as the NGO sector, politics, teaching, psychiatry, speech therapy, cinema and music.

Schools such as Vasant Valley believe that Class X is too early in life for a young person to figure out his career. "We do not divide children onto silos such as science, arts and commerce in Classes XI and XII. They are encouraged to opt for subjects they are interested in. Subject combinations could include physics, art and psychology. Fifteen is too early to pick a career. To help students discover where their interests lie, it's important to offer them a range of subjects across streams," says Arun Kapur, director, Vasant Valley.

Several schools, however, hold career fairs to expose students to a whole range of new-age options. "We were surprised to see the number of children flocking to the animation stall at our fair. I am also amazed at the number of boys who are interested in studying home science," says Anju Uppal, principal of Ryan International School, Faridabad.

Bloom Public School, Vasant Valley, and Ambiance Public School, Safdarjung Enclave, also conduct career counselling sessions and administer aptitude tests to help students choose a stream in Class XI.

The language department at DPS Vasundhara gets students to organize talk shows and radio shows to help them understand what it's like to be a video or radio jockey. "While traditionally, bright students were often forced to join the science stream, counselling helps students understand where their interests lie, with more students opting for commerce and humanities," says Sharmila Chatterjee, principal of DPS Vasundhara. "We also counsel parents as they often force kids into fields they are not interested in."

Several schools have tie-ups with organizations such as JA and Mexus Education that uses innovative ways to introduce science and design to children. "We give students an inventor's kit that guides them towards indigenous solutions to scientific problems. We also have an enterprise index report, which tells kids where their skills lie," says Saurabh Saxena, director, Mexus.

At JA, students are shown how all fields come in handy for a particular career. "A Delhi schoolboy couldn't make up his mind between social work and engineering. We asked him how much money a labourer would have spent to take his pregnant wife from Gurgaon to Rohini 10 years ago. We then asked him to calculate how much less the costs are today, thanks to Delhi Metro. He realized that a great piece of engineering could also benefit society," says Matoory.

"If a chemical engineer creates a great alloy that increases the longevity of Metro coaches, the price of tickets may come down once the cost of project is recovered after, say, 10 years. This will make transport more affordable for the common man," he adds.

Times of India

New careers, exciting guidance

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