Students of 93 government senior secondary schools of Ambala have now got an opportunity that most of us didn’t have while passing out from the school. Clearing the 12th Board exams, heralds a new beginning in students’ life who are more focused on their career preferences and how they are working to achieve them. However, not all students are aware of what goal they have set in life and how to go about it.
Something similar was happening at these senior secondary schools of Ambala till 2014-batch IAS officer, Mr Vikram Yadav, took over as the Deputy Commissioner of the district. He felt a need to guide the students properly and help them in building their future.
CAREER CHART
Mr. Vikram Yadav joined as the DC of Ambala in Haryana in June 2021. He used to visit school students and that is when during an interaction about how they are planning on building their future after schooling, he came up with the idea of providing them career counseling. Mr. Yadav while speaking to Indian Masterminds, said “Many of them were clueless about what all colleges to choose and did not have a working plan to achieve their dream jobs.”
“First of all, the basics were made clear to the students by preparing a career chart in which various career streams like joining army, banks, UPSC, engineering, medical etc. were mentioned. Students didn’t know that there are several jobs available in the armed forces as well. They could not only become a soldier but also be a senior level army officer. The procedure of getting into these professions were delineated to them”, he added.
ADDING BOOKS IN LIBRARIES
Building a career chart was not enough to make students flourish in future but the administration under the guidance of the Deputy Commissioner had much bigger plans. After guiding them and getting to know what the students want to do in future, Mr. Yadav added various related books in the libraries according to the career choices of students in Ambala.
Books related to preparation for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam, banks, army, engineering were installed in the libraries so that students can have access to it for free.
INTERACTIONS WITH PROFESSIONALS
The most important and effective step was taken at the end when the administration invited various professionals from diverse fields for a live interaction with the students.
This initiative started in the month of October with local bank managers guiding the students on how to apply for various banks and what should be the preparation to clear these exams.
Mr. Yadav said, “More than 50 schools have been covered where banking professionals guided the students. Not only this, but through this initiative, we also managed to open bank accounts of several people in the district.”
Mr Yadav also mentioned about the seminars conducted with serving army and air force professionals who informed students of how to enter the Indian army and also addressed the queries of students. Col Gagan Katyal, Col Gopal Chand Lohani, Lt Col Varun Vashistha, Major Shaishta and Captain Pooja were some of the professionals who guided the students in the seminar which was conducted a few days ago.
The response and excitement shown by the students are immense as 700 students have already opted for joining the Indian army.
Apart from this, the administration in a felicitation ceremony honored four students studying in government schools of the district for getting admission in IITs and NITs.