Minister for Rural Development K.C. Joseph has called upon students not to restrict their higher studies options to engineering and medical courses as there are several other courses with greater prospects that are available today.
“The major problem confronting the education field today is that the majority of students are opting for engineering or medical courses,” Mr. Joseph said, while addressing the students and parents attending the pre-counselling guidance programme organised by The Hindu-EducationPlus here on Monday.
The Minister was the guest of honour at the programme and released the handbook provided to the participating students free of cost.
Mr. Joseph said the top ranks scored by students from Kerala in the latest Civil Services examinations should encourage the students to look beyond the attraction of engineering and medical courses. More students should opt for selection under the Indian Foreign Service, Indian Revenue Service, and Indian Police Service, among others, he said.
Lauding The Hindu for conducting the pre-counselling guidance programme, Mr. Joseph termed it a great service to equip the students through proper guidance to select their courses for higher studies.
Acknowledging that he was a regular reader of the education supplement of The Hindu , he said that expert guidance was unavoidable at a time when the courses available for the students were not restricted to traditional disciplines.
Universities were now offering courses whose course contents were not easy to comprehend, he said.
“While the future of the students depends on the courses they select, parents are not equipped to give proper guidance to their children,” the Minister said, stressing that programmes such as the pre-counselling guidance events being organised by The Hindu-EducationPlus , utilising the expertise of education and career guidance experts such as B.S. Warrier, would be of great help to the students in their educational pursuits.
He also urged The Hindu-EducationPlus to make the guidance programme more extensive to cover more students.
The Minister released the handbook by giving a copy to Mr. Warrier.
