With the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declaring the results for its Class XII board examinations on Monday, only the CBSE Class X board examination result is left awaited. Many state Education Boards, including Manipur have declared results for both board examinations letting thousands of young students waiting to take up a chosen line of study after their 10th Board Examinations and taking initial steps towards their future careers after their 12th Boards. The choice of career options and subject combinations has gone a slow process of change with more on offer now, than ever. Earlier, parents and students thought only of being a doctor or engineer if the results came in well, with teaching and other sectors coming in at the lower end of career options. With the changes in the market of economy and political and cultural changes, there came in new career options and avenues. The opening of the economy side by side with the country turning to technology brought in the BPO sector that provided millions of young people in the country a viable option for employment. Through Business process outsourcing (BPO), young people sitting in an office or even in the confines of their homes could take on the contract of operations for a client or company through a third party service provider in the form of the company that employs them. The BPO sector gave wings to young people to aspire and be part of the global workforce and work their way up depending on their capabilities. Along with the growth of the BPO, the impetus that the Government gave to the information and technology (IT) sector gave a boost to bringing in a pool of young professionals, which then led to the introduction of new study courses and curriculum. This was the stage when degrees for business administration, marketing and research, publicity and hospitality came in. The growth of a new beginning also brought in a media boom and with visual media making its presence felt, it created a huge market for technicians, graphic artists, studio hands et el.
Never before has the country seen such a gamut of choices for young professionals all with one refrain: ‘opportunities’. The only difficult aspect staring at young people after they have passed through their Board examinations now is really about being able to identify which track to go on and to recognize what core areas of strengths they possess to walk that path. Interestingly, this very area has been tapped in by various agencies who offer ‘career counseling’ services which have begun to make their appearance in the state through career fairs or expos. The investment in this area is such that Kiran Bedi who wears the hat of being a social activist now and is affiliated with the Aam Aadmi party of Kejriwal actually came down to Imphal to talk of career opportunities instead of holding court with other activists in the state. Not many in the national media would be aware that Kiran Bedi’s outing in Imphal was that of a talent scout for a private educational institution. That will be for political pundits to decipher but the truth is that more than ever; students are worth investments and present huge opportunities for Government and private sectors to poach on.
However, it would be totally off the mark to look at students as recruits for particular sectors and swoop in only after they perform well. There is an equal need to build in support systems to aid in an enabling environment for students to enjoy their studies. In Manipur where the atmosphere for students to study and develop their intellect is threatened from various quarters starting from areas of safety and well being given the state of conflict marked by regular interruptions of bands, curfews, clampdowns, rallies and the like to study hours being curtailed due to prolonged and very regular electricity load shedding, there is greater need for student friendly counseling and other support systems. Over and above these factors, there are the expectations from parents and at times, even from the authorities of educational institutions that can go to add stress and burden on young minds. The clamor for performance and the competiveness that encourages mark comparison led the CBSE to introduce grading system, which has now been introduced for the 10th Board examination results. The move by CBSE was necessitated when the pressure for ‘good results’ led to increasing cases of suicides among students and reports of depression. In Manipur too, there have been cases of suicide following the declaration of examination results, which is a sad commentary on the burden that young people have to live with in present day society. Parents and various other players in the education sector need to be able to inspire confidence in young people and specially students, to be able to see that life cannot just be about examination results.