Realising there are over 150,000 schools in India and only 300 or 400 career counsellors, LO career counselling project was initiated as a pilot in 2022 with a view to developing a full-blown service for children of lower income families totally lacking in any form of guidance with respect to educational and professional choices, taking into account their personal capabilities, preferences and the wide range of opportunities available to them.
With funding from Lotus Outreach International we were able to purchase the necessary study materials and employ an experienced educator to teach and provide guidance to our first batch of students and assist us in research and development of the project. In our first year 25 students, drawn from our own youth and education projects, were provided individual and group education and career counselling training along with daily instruction in how to pass competitive exams leading to sure fire employment opportunities in government and private sector firms.
In January 2023 we opened another career counselling program at our computer training facility at Baharonpur, some 15kms from Hazaribag in Jharkhand. The location is central to some ten remote villages and six village schools to be served by the project. We’ve provided 250 bicycles to enable girls and youth from the area to attend our facility and plan to serve some 460 youth in 2023 as well as children in classes 8 to 12 at the six target schools.
It’s also extremely exciting that we’ve been able to enrol both of our career counsellors into an online Career Counselling course offered by UCLA extension program.
“With over a decade of research and experience in guiding students and parents, Univariety found that India had close to zero active Career Counsellors to guide students. Univariety then collaborated with the University of California, Los Angeles Extension to create the first of its kind program for professionals who want to become Career Counsellors.”
White Lotus Trust Career Counselling project is being developed in view of the huge gap in career counselling services in India and especially for youth from poor families that cannot afford the exorbitant cost of enrolling in private agencies.
