Principals of over 100 CBSE and ICSE schools from across the state participated in the first International Conference of Career and College Counseling (IC3) of the eastern region, organised at Delhi Public School (DPS), Ranchi on Tuesday.
IC3 regional forums are a series of events organised in high schools across 11 countries by IC3 leadership committees like India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and others.
Organised with the aim to educate the educators about the need of proper career guidance for students at school level, the conference focused on the need of having a proper career counseling office at every school.
Addressing the auditorium filled with teachers and students, founding president of IC3, Ganesh Kohli pointed out that most of the people of 35 years of age are unhappy at work.
“We did a survey and found that 84 per cent of the total people who were the part of the survey are unhappy with work and their unhappiness is linked to something that happened when they were in school. Also, many millennial want to change their jobs,” he said.
Emphasizing on the need of career counselors, Kohli said that every school should have a career counselor who can help the students figure out what to study, where to study and how to make it happen.
“Young people leaving school today are like airplanes without navigation system. They don’t know where to go,” he said.
Hemlata S. Mohan, principal of DPS Bokaro who was presiding over the conference highlighted the importance of providing a congenial atmosphere to the students.
“More than the children parents should be counseled so that the children can choose their careers as per their liking and not under any compulsion,” she said.
DPS Principal Ram Singh said that the goal of IC3 conference is to bring together school leaders, colleges, counselors and teachers to discuss three major points – transition from high school to college and beyond, focus on career and college counseling and admission practices and enhance professional development.
“The aim is to help students make career choices easily. IC3 will prove instrumental in driving awareness and providing professional, innovative and creative counseling ideas to bring about a transformation,” he said.
Singh said, “This conference is an opportunity for the educators to get a chance to learn, rather than teach.” Singh said that high quality career education and guidance is an essential part of schooling. “Supporting students in making well informed choice about subjects can lead them to have a more optimistic outlook on life, sense of purpose and greater level of contribution that they make to the society,” he said.
Some of the major speakers at the conference included Sudershan Saha, Advising Coordinator, Education, United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) Kolkata, Sandeep Saraswat, Senior Manager at Ashoka University, Syed Sultan Ahmed, MD of LXL Ideas among others.
