From when do we start asking our children what they want to become in life? And how much information do we actually provide them to make a choice? Numerous researches over the years have shown that students tend to make their career choices based on what they see around them. They will follow their parent’s careers because that is all they know about or try to fit in somewhere else that they probably saw on television. But more often than not, there will come a time when they will release that their path is in an utter mismatch with their interests and things will start falling apart in their professional life.

However, if proper guidance is made available to them right from the very beginning, if all the options are laid out before them with full details, the process of choosing a career can start at a point when a wrong selection causes minimum consequences. These are the roles of a career guidance cell in schools. Top CBSE boarding schools in Sonepat will have expert career counsellors on board so that their students, at least, do not make naïve decisions in this technological age of easy information.

Is an entire cell necessary?

The sheer number of career routes available in the present century demands an entire cell. Today’s career counselling cannot be about taking aptitude tests and letting a computer decide what is best for the student. A lot of psychological factors must be taken into account before coming to a definite conclusion. Hence, students require one-to-one sessions, need to sit down with multiple experts to evaluate all possibilities and clear confusions at every level. With the provision of an entire cell, the school is housing the infrastructure to help its students in the best possible way and provide everything that is indeed necessary.

Plus, a single counsellor with just one computer may not have all the required knowledge. If a student expresses interest in painting, this alone opens up a world of possibilities in the form of fashion designing, interior designing, graphic designing, architecture and so on which are separate from the conventional career path of becoming a painter. A career counsellor must have the full depth of information across all available fields, create the right connections and give the student the complete details. Naturally, the task requires a team of experts. And the top school in Sonepat will always have a dedicated cell.

Doesn’t thinking about a career create pressure?

This notion still prevails. That, in school, students must only focus on their education. The concept of career counselling still has not picked up the pace in the Indian society and students are often directed to specific streams solely based upon their grades. This results in more college dropouts, unhealthy adult life and poor professional choices. In reality, even when students are directed to focus on studies, they instinctively start thinking about their careers and with limited information available, end up making poor choices. This is where the belief must change. Career counselling aids a student’s education.

For instance, if a student develops an interest in literature and writing, and ill-informed adult will direct the child to understand that there is no future with that particular stream. The student may end up with a mathematics or science major and make all the wrong choices. However, with a career counsellor available at hand right within the school campus, the child can explore her passion, look into careers like journalism and research, and stick to subjects that will foster her interest. Putting this into perspective, having the guidance actually released the pressure that science would have brought on to the child. It did not add any.

So, every school has a career guidance cell?

Even though CBSE has made it mandatory to have career counsellors in the faculty team, most schools limit themselves only with life counsellors. Advising a student on a career is very different from teaching her life skills. It is a career counsellor’s job to analyse a student’s aptitude with psychology and suggest the best option. Life counsellors, on the other hand, deal only with the emotional side and their roles cannot intermix. Both experts are necessary and the best schools in Sonepat will have the facilities for all.

Swarnprastha Public School features in that rare list of schools that have a full-time functional career guidance cell within its premises. Apart from conducting sessions with the students of the school, the cell also arranges events and workshops to provide complete exposure, arranges for the necessary connections with field experts if students require and much more. Career counselling is not an option anymore. With competition rising in every field every day, students must align their interests with their careers. And that must start as early as possible.