A section of the participants at The Hindu EducationPlus Career Counselling-2024, in Bengaluru on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
The 22nd edition of The Hindu EducationPlus Career Counselling-2024, held on Saturday at NMKRV College here, saw a massive response from students and parents. As many as 43 higher education institutions participated in the event, which saw close to 1,000 students and parents attend.
Students and parents were busy getting information about various courses, colleges, fee structure, infrastructure, placement, and other details. They also got information about the Civil Service Exam (CSE), CET, and COMED-K, and medical, engineering and other professional courses from experts through various sessions.
In his inaugural speech, M.N. Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Bengaluru, said, “Students should take up something that they are really passionate about and really like. In the long run, happiness and satisfaction are more important than status or the designation or rank that you have.”
He said, “Young Indians have plenty of opportunities in various fields. Just 20 years ago, when I was a student, the opportunities were either medicine, engineering, law or charted accountancy (CA). Today, you can be whatever you want to be. Keep in mind that to be unique, to be identified as important, be innovative, adaptive, and creative because a majority of the jobs in the next 10 years will be done by artificial intelligence technology, not by humans.”
About the CSE and the Indian Police Service (IPS), he said there are only about 3,000 IPS officers in a country for 124 billion people. “Don’t be worried about what education background you have to take the CSE exam,” he said.
Shantappa Kurubara, sub-inspector of police and All India Rank 644 in CSE-2023, lauded the contribution and impact of The Hindu on his life and career: “I started the CSE preparation with The Hindu. It is the best paper for providing exact information. Earlier, The Hindu was an everyday guest at my house. But now, I have become a guest in a programme organized by The Hindu.”
“I felt miserable in II PU and failed three times. Then, I passed with only 39%. During that period in my village, I came to know finally that without books, I cannot succeed. After 15 years, I still maintain the same consistency and vigour about [reading] books,” he said.
“CSE exams seek patience and I sacrificed eight years for this success. I attended CSE viva three times and finally succeeded. Guru and aim are very important to become successful in CSE. CSE aspirants should be careful about YouTube and coaching centre mafia, and screen time should be less,” he added.
Speaking about engineering courses, T.N. Sreenivasa, Register (Evaluation), Visvesvaray Technological University, Belagavi, explained about the number of engineering universities, colleges, available seats, and selection of engineering seats.
“Doctors survive on diseases of the society, lawyers on the disputes in the society, whereas engineers survive on the prosperity of the society. So, engineers should look forward to how we can improve the quality of life,” he said.
Balakrishna Shetty, Pro-Chancellor, Malla Reddy University, Hyderabad, spoke about medical courses and said: “Almost 20 lakh people will take NEET, but only 11 lakh people will qualify across the country for 1 lakh medical seats. After COVID-19, learning shifted from the classroom to digital mode. Don’t look at which is the best school at all. As long as there are a good number of patients, you will get good hands-on experience. See that there are a good number of patients in medical colleges and select one.”
Uttam Kumar Badiger, Senior Assistant, Karnataka Examinations Authority, explained about the CET counselling process. Many students got their doubts about the selection of professional course seats, fee structure, counselling process, and other topics cleared.
Ameen-e-Mudassar, career counsellor and CEO of CIGMA, spoke about general education. “Students must learn multiple skills, upgrade themselves and try to acquire knowledge online. Don’t choose your career influenced by others. At the end of your graduation, you should have at least five internships,” he said.
