Nearly 500 students attended The Hindu EducationPlus career counselling session in Bidar on Saturday.
Apart from listening to experts from various fields, the students clarified doubts about the Common Entrance Test (CET) and various other career choices by asking questions to a panel of resource persons.
They also carried home ‘The Nxt Step: Fusing career and passion’, a well researched career guidance handbook.
Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer, who has a doctorate in Education from Jamia Milia University, inaugurated the session. He called upon students to study various career options before making a choice. “Don’t be influenced by current trends, or market surveys that say this sector will create so many jobs in future. If you are good in what you do, you can have a successful career in your own field,” Dr. Jaffer said.
He asked the parents to try and understand what interests their children. “Please don’t push your children into learning something that they detest. They are bound to curse their job and blame you for the choice,” he said.
He spoke of emerging careers such as social media content management, foreign language translation and interpretation and image consultancy.
Annies K. Joy, the young IAS officer who has a basic degree in nursing sciences, told the students to develop trust in themselves. She described her journey from a confused nursing student in the final year who decided to take up the IAS examination, to functioning as a sub divisional magistrate.
K.M. Mugali, resource person from the Karnataka Examination Authority, spoke about the various stages of the CET.
He asked students to read the CET brochure several times to understand the instructions. He also asked them to take a print out of the online forms and fill them once before finally entering the details on to the computer.
Tanveer Ahmed, from Cigma India career counselling agency, gave a detailed presentation on the career choices available after SSLC and PUC.
B.K. Badiger, painter and member, Karnataka Lalitakala Academy, spoke of the fine arts and performing arts courses available in Karnataka after SSLC and PUC.
Praveen Jholgikar from the College of Horticulture Sciences introduced students to farm sciences. He said that students could take up research, academics, or technology implementation as career options after completing degree and post graduation in these fields.
Khaja Mohteshamuddin from the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University said the university offered several interesting courses such as wildlife medicine, food processing and fisheries sciences. Dr. Khaja, who is an accomplished sportsperson, also answered some questions on sports as a career.
Durgesh Shastry, assistant professor at the Guru Nanak Dev University and an English novelist, spoke about fusing passion and livelihood. He also gave information on careers in defence forces.
Satish Mudbi from the Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences spoke of the various sub-fields of medicine. He pointed out that medicine remained the career of choice for the brightest students, despite the various advances in computer technology or other fields.
I understood some basic principles of personality development like balancing a career and passion. Now I realise that choosing a course or a job is not the end of life. I am interested in singing and dancing and I can continue them even after I begin studying medicine or engineering or any other course.
Rohini Maruti
Student, Shaheen PU College
I am surprised to learn that there are over 15,000 professions in the world. I will definitely sit down and think about them. I had some doubts about the CET examination and seat selection process. The methodical and detailed speech by the CET resource person addressed most of my doubts.
Rahul Basavaraj
Student, Gnyana Sudha Vidyalaya
