Nexus of Good: The guiding light

“Neither my parents nor I had any plans that I study beyond the 10th class. When they started career planning classes in my government school, I was not interested. Then one day, I heard my teacher talk about the work done in the BFSI sector and it piqued my interest. While the automotive or healthcare sector did not interest me, the BFSI sector did”. These are the words of young Shubhapradha, an alumnus of a Government High School in Bangalore, where United Efforts’ Students to Professionals Programme was launched in 2018. Currently, Shubha is excelling in her second year of BCom and working to become a professional in the BFSI sector.

As in any other Government High School, teachers at Shubhapradha’s school work hard to ensure their students pass the 10th board (SSLC). However, under pressure from the exam system, few think beyond this benchmark. The dropout rate after class 10 in India stands at 20.6 per cent, and it’s 28.2 per cent in Karnataka. Shubha might have become part of this statistic if not for the opportunity to receive "Education with Exposure." This paved the way for awareness and clarity, empowering her to shape a future aligned with her interests and abilities.

Anahata United Efforts Foundation was established in 2018 through IIM Bangalore’s NSRCEL launchpad, with the objective of enhancing the potential of students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds in a systematic way. Over time, the Foundation developed a comprehensive Students to Professionals Programme designed to expose students in grades 8 through 10 to various educational and career pathways. The programme’s strength lies in covering both familiar and complex sectors across the STEAM spectrum in ways that pique curiosity and motivate students to pursue education objectively.

The Students to Professionals programme curriculum has three main parts:

1. My Future My Choices (spanning two academic years) is the curriculum for 8th and 9th-grade students, where teachers introduce students to 25 different work sectors throughout the academic year to spark their curiosity. This serves as a trigger to increase students' engagement with the education system, motivating them to perform better academically.

2. My Future My Plans is the curriculum for 10th-grade students (soon to be extended to 11th and 12th grades), focusing on systematic career goal-setting and decision-making processes. It aims to enable students to make informed career choices (career plan A and career plan B) and establish corresponding educational road maps. Teachers build essential 21st-century skills such as decision-making, critical evaluation, creative thinking, communication, and problem-solving. The objective is to empower students to face challenges and achieve their career goals.

3. Professional is Born provides remote mentoring as part of the curriculum that is being evolved as partnerships with organisations that are formed to support internships, apprenticeships, placements, and scholarships. This support structure is designed to help students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds break free from poverty and stabilise in a career suited to their interests and abilities.

Anahata United Efforts Foundation has successfully demonstrated the S2P (Students to Professionals) model at scale in partnership with the Karnataka Residential School Department (KREIS) under the Ministry of Social Welfare. In 2022, the programme began with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with KREIS to implement the Career Planning curriculum in their schools and train teachers to systematically impact their students.

In 2022-23, the initiative launched a pilot programme to train teachers from 10 schools in Ramanagaram district to understand and calibrate the intervention. A pattern began to emerge. Initial scepticism about “yet another training” was soon replaced with strong motivation: “I want to give my students the clarity I never had.” As they delivered the programme, students appreciated the easy-to-understand, immersive, and practical programme. Students began looking forward to career planning classes as a safe space to discuss their aspirations, and the teachers started becoming popular in their schools.

The pilot’s success led the Foundation to scale the programme in 177 schools in the academic year 2023-24. These 177 government residential schools impacted 26,550 students across seven districts of Karnataka. More than 350 teachers were trained to implement the programme. A third-party assessment—Voice of Students, Teachers, Parents, and Alumni (VOSTPA) survey—conducted towards the end of the academic year revealed that 80 per cent of students understood the educational or training paths for their career choices, and 68 per cent stated that the programme motivated them to study harder to improve foundational skills for their careers.

Encouraged by the results, the department supported United Efforts in a statewide launch in June 2024 to train over 1,500 teachers across all 792 government residential schools in the state. This is currently impacting 1.2 lakh students across all 31 districts of Karnataka. The Foundation is working with the department to strengthen the roles of school principals and district coordinators for sustainable and impactful outcomes.

The Karnataka state has vetted the content of the Students to Professionals curriculum. Under the aegis of the Karnataka Skill Development Corporation and Samagra Shikshana, United Efforts is working as a knowledge partner to pilot the S2P programme in 150 regular government high schools across the state. Teachers have been trained, and the launch is awaited. The state is also working with United Efforts to develop a curriculum for the 11th and 12th classes, also called PU1 and PU2.

NGOs like Tata Trust, Colours of Life Foundation, and Embassy Foundation are integrating the S2P programme into their offerings for schools they are working with to improve results and student outcomes.

According to a 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) report, it would take seven generations for an Indian born into a low-income family to reach the country's mean income. The report found that India's social inequality keeps a significant section of the population poor, despite the country’s economic growth. The S2P programme is a systemic solution that combines exposure and awareness with education to bring students to a level playing field of opportunities. Let’s unite efforts to ensure no student is left behind and their potential is tapped to power a Viksit Bharat.

What Anahata United Efforts Foundation has achieved is truly commendable and presents a wonderful example of Nexus of Good. This model can be replicated and scaled through public-private partnerships.

Views expressed are personal