One-stop counselling centre in Jiribam

Thingbaijam Gagarin Singh *

BACK GROUND

The role of education in shaping the future of our youth is of undeniable importance. History is witness to the fact that the development or downfall of a society is intricately linked to the education the youth receives. In the present world, pace of growth and development has increased manifold and is increasing.

Consequently, the demand for quality education has increased correspondingly. Technological advances in the field of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) have changed the parameters of education in an incredible fashion. Informed changes in the way education is delivered and received have to be taken up to cater to the changing demands .

More importantly the end goal of education is to groom and prepare the youth so as to enable them to meet the new challenges the world throws up. The harsh reality is that all places are not getting the same opportunities owing to multiple reasons. For instance, Jiribam , a border town of Manipur, which is located around 220 kms far away from the heart of the State capital, is in a disadvantage position.

The usual shortfalls in social and physical infrastructure pose a great challenge for the education system and target youth. There is a felt need to address the gap so as to ensure that along with proper education system, the youth are made aware of the changing scenario and expectations.

It’s a widely accepted fact that the primary goal of education is to make a person a better human being and also prepare him/her to competently perform in whatever career she/he chooses in life. In this context, the youth of Jiribam are not provided with level-playing field. In comparison with their counterparts in other developed cities/towns, they are lagging behind.

Lack of support infrastructure, reliable and timely information, and proper counselling via-a-via careers building put them in a weaker position. The teaching community in Jiribam is of one voice when it comes to the lack of opportunities that could provide reliable information timely, and counselling inputs for career options, etc, to the aspiring youth of Jiribam.

Taking due cognizance of this undeniable fact, the teaching community in Jiribam strongly feels the need for collective action to address the aforementioned disadvantages faced by the youth of Jiribam. The teaching community firmly believes that they can make a difference towards alleviating the plight of Jiribam’s youth by building a platform where from the existing gaps can be addressed.

Driven by faith and unwavering conviction in the capabilities of Jiribam’s aspiring youth, the  teaching community has contemplated and deliberated among itself on numerous occasions and finally unanimously agreed to set up a one-stop counselling centre/facility.

ONE-STOP COUNSELLING CENTRE

The proposed one-stop counselling centre will cater to various needs of the students and youth at different levels. The teaching community is of the opinion that the centre should not be confined to providing counsel to students after 10+2 only, though this would be a major activity of the centre.

The goal of the centre to prepare the students for taking informed and right choices would emanate from the following interventions.
– Early counselling interventions targeted at students from class VI to class IX
– Identification of inherent talents and students key areas of interest.
– Provide relevant and updated information through simple and effective means keeping in mind the student’s age, class, family background, etc.
– Maintain proper record of the student’s academic growth and suggest steps/measures for improvement.
– Establish a line of communication with the student’s parents/guardians.
– Counselling interventions targeted at students from class x to class xii
– Based on the student’s record, make available various options for pursuing higher studies keeping in mind the student’s interest and inherent ability.
– Provide information pertaining to the latest trends and methods adopted by their counterpart students elsewhere in the country.
– Adopt confidence building measures for both students and their families in the pursuit of higher education.
– Make available the entire career options vis a-vis the choices of study streams so as to enable the students and their families for taking informed decisions.

INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE “ONE-STOP COUNSELLING CENTRE”:

It is proposed to have a dynamic centre that can adapt itself to the changing needs and demands. As the human resources in the centre would be mainly from teaching community, commitments from them to devote time whenever they can and whenever urgent needs arise, are of utmost importance.

Teachers of different subjects would be the main backbone of the centre. It’s also proposed to rope in alumni from schools /college in Jiribam or elsewhere but now engaged in different sectors as professionals. They would be able to inspire the students/youths and help in strengthening their conviction towards their pursued career paths.