CBSE PARTNERS WITH UNICEF: LAUNCHES ONLINE CAREER GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING PORTAL FOR STUDENTS

The primary aim of NEP 2020 is to develop a vibrant and transformative school education sector that ensures the development of the unique potential of each learner and provides a safe and stimulating learning environment to all students and teachers.

The NEP 2020 proposes for an overhaul of the existing teaching learning patterns, by optimising learners’ academic and vocational capabilities. CBSE, has taken the task for effective implementation of online portal for Career Guidance and Counselling of class IX-XII students in all affiliated schools in the same context.

It is imperative for the students to understand their learning strengths and weaknesses; have realistic goals commensurate with their capabilities. Guidance and Counselling serves the basic needs of each individual as a unique entity as there are perceptible differences between the individuals in native capacities, abilities and interests. Equally significant are the changes within the individual during the course of time with maturity and exposure.

Besides, Guidance also enhances positive attributes of an individual which help to build a positive self- image.

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“To bring scale, speed and standard to the career guidance process, CBSE has dovetailed these objective to develop a holistic integrated vision for career guidance and counselling for building knowledge and skills of students and to make them ‘Future Ready’.

CBSE has brought on board a consultative group of experts belonging to industry, academia, and government to prepare the future road map.

Likewise, CBSE has collaborated with UNICEF and its trusted technical partner iDreamCareer private limited for setting up a dynamic online system on career guidance and counselling.” Sh. Manoj Ahuja Chairman CBSE.

This initiative will help young people, especially girls, to gain knowledge and skills for self-development and to transition smoothly from school to higher education or work. To support adolescents (grades 9 to 12 students) to manage their career pathways and lifelong learning,

UNICEF, along with 13 state governments and the private sector has customized career portals in regional languages, reaching 21 million adolescents helping them access education and work-related resources and opportunities. The career portals also available on mobile apps offer information on careers, college directories, courses from several countries, scholarships and competitive entrance exams.

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Speaking at the launch of the portal, Terry Durnnian, Chief of Education, UNICEF India, said, “The pandemic has heightened concerns among millions of young people about their future livelihoods and skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. UNICEF has supported career guidance portals across several states to empower adolescents and young people to make informed educational and occupational choices that support their social, financial, and emotional well-being. UNICEF is pleased to partner with the Central Board of Secondary Education with the technical partnership of iDreamCareer to develop the CBSE Career Guidance portal to facilitate students in India to have access to information on career pathways, irrespective of their school affiliation.”

The CBSE dedicated online portal on career guidance and counseling coincides with the declaration of class X and XII results for this year and includes information on various careers, courses, scholarships, and examinations for students from grades 9 to 12.

The CBSE Career Guidance and Counselling portal:

• Is gender-inclusive
• Informs on career options for special ability students
• Uses a gamified approach to engage students
• Provides personalised and unique career journey through Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
• Is mobile, tablet and laptop-compatible

The portal is linked to the CBSE main portal. All CBSE School students will be able to sign up on the portal with their details and access a personalised career dashboard that will also be accessible to teachers and administrators.

• The portal with the entire career curriculum will be offered to students at no cost.
• Currently, each student through an individual career dashboard will be able to access:
• 560+ careers (English, Hindi & 8 other languages)
• 25,000 colleges and vocational institutes spanning over 3 lakh courses
• 1200 scholarships  
• 1150 Entrance Exams

Career Counsellor/Teacher Dashboard: 2 teachers/counselors per school will be trained on the portal through a digital training session and given a personal counselor dashboard to access the entire career curriculum and use it to guide the students for their career queries. This will build their knowledge base on career guidance. 

 Additional 90 hours self-paced online training course will be offered to teachers/counselors in their dashboard itself where they can do the entire course and get certified as a career counselor (post clearing the online assessments for various modules).  This course at present is being developed with UNICEF support in the next few months.

As the learners in schools come from diverse cultural, linguistic, social, economic backgrounds, equal access to all is essential.  CBSE will help create an enabling school environment to ensure all-inclusive, strong institutional support system for concurrent motivation and capacity building of all students and teachers.

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The recently set up Career guidance & Counselling Information Centre (CGCIC) in CBSE will lend a hand to ensure a Career Counselling cell in every school, create awareness of the career portal to promote the usage among students and also chalk out different offline strategies of providing uninterrupted guidance facilities to students. The Portal can be accessed at www.cbsecareerguidance.com