Students crave for better career guidance

A UN-sponsored study says only a little over 10% students in India get professional guidance in matters of selecting a career choice. The survey covered 21,240 respondents in 14 districts spread over Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Rajasthan. The report paints a grim picture of apathy that reigns in matters of career guidance and counselling of students studying 9th to 12th standards, the years during which youth require critical inputs in order to design a career as well as future.

It further informs that even in private schools, as many as 41% students remain unsure about course selection despite having better access to resources providing such guidance. Despite positive and decent growth in General Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education in India, which currently stands at a little over 28% (2021-22 figures), only 10% know the course cost and 81% students face barriers to career decisions due to deficient knowledge about course, career choices and institutions where these could be had and prospects and challenges involved in taking up a particular course.

It is a commonly observable trend that most students end up pursuing a career in engineering or medicine under parental or peer pressure despite having no passion for the professions. More regrettably, material prospects rather than their own love for the profession constitutes the principal guiding factor in shaping their choice. It is however a matter of satisfaction that the CBSE has recently decided to address this vital gap and is designing modules and courses for training certified career counsellors.