'Arrange for mass counseling of students right from class IX'

Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim urged the organisers of "Education Interface 2022" to make arrangements for mass counseling of students right from class IX level in order to guide them in pursuing the right career path.

"Under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a wide avenue of career options are opening up in Bengal while many other places in the country are becoming saturated. Earlier conventional stream of education was sufficient to get a job. But now it is difficult to get a job without proper skill. So counseling has assumed utmost importance. There are counseling options for students after they crack class XII in platforms like this. But I feel it would be better if it can start from class IX level," Hakim said.

State Technical Education, Training and Skill Development minister Humayun Kabir said that his department has started the Karmadisha App for students' counseling from January this year. "Over 80,000 students have availed facilities through this app," he said.

State Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said that institutions like Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, have been asked to encourage self-employment and take steps accordingly while designing their study curriculum.

"Most students have questions like which university and college to choose, what the requirements are, the ranking of the university. Here is where education fairs come into the scene," Founder of Career Planner Edu Fair, Dipak Sinha Roy said.

Education Interface 2022 offers pre-counselling sessions and career guidance to students focusing on Engineering, Medical, Hotel Management, Media and Communication courses, Hospitality-business etc. Over 250 professional institutes around India will provide their information to students.