MNP School principal Ashu Tiwary and others light a lamp to inaugurate the event at XLRI on Sunday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Defence, fashion or, say, photo-journalism?

Students find it tough to make career decisions. In a city like Jamshedpur, most decide to go down the beaten track without exploring other options that may be better suited to their temperament and talent.

Samarthya, a student society of XLRI, which held a career counselling meet named Disha on campus on Sunday, pointed this out.

During the course of Disha, budding entrepreneurs motivated students of Classes X, XI and XII across nine city schools to choose their own careers. Teachers and parents were also present.

A panel discussion was also organised with eminent participants such as Loyola School principal Father Sebastian Puthenpura, his counterpart at Motilal Nehru Public School Ashu Tiwary, social worker and entrepreneur Ronald D’Costa, NGO People for Change founder Souvik Saha and professor of organisational behaviour at XLRI I.S.F. Irudayaraj.

“The session was organised because we felt students here aren’t aware of many career options. Since they are told either about engineering or medicine, they tend to follow them. Students apart, we told parents and teachers about other options,” said meet convener Ragamayee Tellapati.

A workshop held by XLRI students followed the panel discussion where participants were divided in two groups — Class X and Plus Two.

Here, youngsters learnt about various streams and their scope. Tenth graders were told about opportunities in science, arts and commerce, their plus two seniors were told about options in mass media, commerce, defence, chartered accountancy, law, MBBS and dental surgery, hotel management, among others.

Event sponsor State Bank of India also set up a kiosk to promote children’s schemes — Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan. While Pehla Kadam is for children below 10 years, Pehli Udaan is for those between 10 and 18 years. The schemes were launched this year to let children and teens imbibe saving habits.