Dimapur, September 13 (MExN): A career guidance survey was carried out under LaunchPad, a career guidance and employment skills development programme explicitly designed for students pursuing their 12th standard in all Government Higher Secondary Schools across Nagaland.
LaunchPad is an initiative of the Department of Youth Resources and Sports (YRS), Government of Nagaland, in partnership with YouthNet, and supported by the Department of School Education.
According to a press release received here on Monday, based on the programme impact and success in 2020-2021, the Government of Nagaland shortlisted LaunchPad under the State Innovation Scheme in 2021 and supports its continuation for 2022-2023 academic year too.
The programme has been specially designed to help the students develop their soft skills, motivate them to pursue higher education, encourage them to explore avenues beyond traditional jobs and plan their career based on their abilities and interests.
This programme also acts as a breakthrough in fighting unemployment amongst the youth in Nagaland, it maintained.
Assessing aspiration of students
According to the release, the survey was conducted among higher secondary students in Nagaland to assess the aspirations of the students. A total number of 3271 students responded to the survey which was conducted from May till September 2022, it stated.
As per the survey findings, a total of 72.2% or 2362 of the students wished to pursue higher education after Secondary education, while 11.8% or 386 preferred to ‘get a job.’ Another 10.6% or 347 students who participated in the survey said they would opt for vocational training after competing secondary education.
Notably, in terms of what influences the students when it comes to making decisions for their academic or career prospects, the family played a major role, with a total of 67.7% of the students responding that their decision to go to college/university/into job training was due to influence from family members.
Accordingly, approximately 91% of the respondents said they have never undergone any assessments to understand themselves better or to suggest well-matched careers.
In terms of subjects they were most likely to study in college, 1037 put of the 3271 students opted for Arts which included performing arts, visual arts, design, etc., while 453 opted for business and economics, and 404 for education/teaching. Only 43 students picked Mathematics and statistics as their preferred subject.
A majority of the students also stated that the main reason for choosing to go to college/university was to get a better job in the future.
As per the survey, the need to support their family financially was also one of the main reasons for those choosing to work or take up professional training to get employment
Guidance from schools
Answering a query on how much advice and information about higher education, apprenticeship, internship and career guidance they received at school, a total of 1094 students responded with ‘not much,’ while 1044 students said they received a reasonable amount of guidance but ‘could do with more.’
About 1005 students said they received enough guidance to make a decision.
However, a majority of the respondents (2597 out of 3271) wanted their schools to organize events on Higher education, Vocational training and Career fairs.
Interestingly, most of the respondents (75.2%) opted to pursue higher education in Nagaland itself, while 18% chose ‘within northeast region’ and 6.69% chose ‘beyond northeast region.’
Meanwhile, the release stated that the total turnover for LaunchPad 2022 Phase 1 is 93% where 3397 students have been registered under the LaunchPad program from 44 Government Higher Secondary School across Nagaland.The LaunchPad courses are taught in the classroom and through a digital learning platform- www.launchpadnagaland.co.
The LaunchPad Team will set out for Phase 2 from September 2022 onwards. During the second phase, students will be introduced to the World of Work. This will be followed by a Higher Education and Career Fair for the students in May 2023, it added.
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