Creating an environment of trust and comfort, students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay held career counselling sessions in schools run by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that cater to children coming from city slums and are generally unaware of various options available to make an informed career choice.
In October this year, more than 20 BMC schools saw such sessions under an initiative titled Career Counselling Campaign (CCC) by Abhyuday, a student-led social body of the premier technology institute which envisions inspiring youth to drive social change. It conducts various events, competitions and campaigns that address critical social issues and cater to diverse sections of the society.
The CCC initiative focuses on providing in-person career guidance to civic-school students, particularly those in Class 10, as this is when many begin to decide on a career path. Elaborating on the format of the sessions, Devang Agarwal, manager at Abhyudaya, said, “These are very interactive sessions. Instead of only making it a lecture on careers, the volunteers are trained to create a dialogue so that actual questions of the target audiences can be addressed”.
Agarwal shared that the core team prepares a detailed presentation on career counselling, which is the basis of most in-person sessions held by student volunteers. “But almost all sessions begin with a question about the interests of participating students. The student volunteer then helps students navigate through higher education possibilities available in the area and the potential for a career in the sector. For example, the session I conducted saw many participants expressing their interest in fashion design. I then helped them understand various career options and higher education courses they might have to pursue for the same”.
Even as the career counselling is by IITian, the sessions are not restricted to science and engineering-related courses, insisted Agarwal, adding that the idea is to help these young students navigate their career path as they have limited resources to make informed choices”.
According to schools, these sessions have benefitted their students because of their comfort levels. The principal of one of the schools said, “The career counselling provided by the student volunteers from IIT Bombay is beneficial because children can communicate openly with them with less age gap. This helps to create an environment of trust and comfort, which is essential for the students to open up, unlike discussing careers with an older person”.
In January, all these students will again get to be part of the two-day Social Fest, an annual event by the Abhyuday which will see an amalgamation of different social initiatives held throughout the year with events like talk shows, conclaves, exhibitions, panel discussions among all.
