Founder of INACE and High School Moms, Abhishek Gupta discuss NEP & impact of COVID 19

How does HSM and INACE assist students in making the best career choices?

 High School Moms is India's largest community of parents, students, and educators. High School Moms encourages parents and children to learn from one another while also informing, engaging, and inspiring them for a better future. It now has a community of over 10 million parents and students, 3000+ educators, 300+ school counsellors, and 300+ universities as members. INACE, or the International Alliance of Counselors and Educators, was founded with the goal of bringing together counsellors and educators from all over the world to improve and advance educational practises. By providing students with guided and pro bono career counselling, we are empowering and pointing them in the right direction and giving them the ability to make informed decisions.

 ·         As per your experience, are Indian parents aware of the various career options available to their children?

 Career counselling is a long-term process that begins with a student's career interests, skills, personality, background, and work-related issues that are important to them being discussed with a career counsellor. According to a survey 71% of students are lost and confused. This is something we want to change. We, as a community, recognise that parents, particularly mothers, have the best understanding of their children. However, we have noticed that Indian students are only aware of a few traditional career options, despite the fact that India has over 250 different types of job opportunities. In such a situation, it is our responsibility to assist students in evaluating their skills, needs, and desires in order to find a career that suits them.

·         Do you believe India's higher education system is truly undergoing transformation?

The Indian educational system has always been inclined towards traditional approaches but with the combination of a visionary NEP and pandemic-induced rapid digital innovations, education, particularly higher education, is undergoing a transformation. Digital learning, which had been envisioned as a possibility in the not-too-distant future, came to fruition almost overnight. Stakeholders in the education sector have finally realised the benefits of digital adoptions and how they can be used to increase knowledge retention. The pandemic also opened up a number of previously unexplored career paths, such as Digital Marketing, Social Media Influencers, Online Teaching, Cybersecurity Professionals, Epidemiology, Virology, Counseling and so on. So yes, we can see a transformation in India’s higher education system.

 ·         What is the significance and value of career counselling, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic?

 Career counselling was seen quite critical to COVID recovery and assisting young people in navigating turbulent professional pathways. Career guidance assists people of all ages in managing their careers and making the best educational, training, and occupational choices. It is especially important for students because it allows them to reflect on their goals, interests, qualifications, skills, and talents, as well as relate who they are to who they might become in the workplace. As students spend more time with their teachers and friends at school, they face a wider range of educational and training options, thus, it's critical that they can see a clear link between what they learn in the classroom and who they might become in the workplace.

 ·         How do you feel about the Indian government's New Education Policy 2020?

 For Indian students, the NEP 2020 provides more flexibility, inclusivity, and options. Allowing students to manage their own education and freeing them from pre-defined subject boundaries will result in skill enhancements in unique combinations, allowing Indian students to better leverage their unique abilities. It would allow students to manage their education according to their own preferences, freeing them from pre-defined subject boundaries, resulting in skill enhancements in unique combinations, allowing Indian students to better leverage their unique advantages.

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