CRAVINGS FUTURE FOR GIRLS
Hindustan Bytes 
Carving Future For Girls: CareerNaksha’s career counselling turns a stepping stone to their success
CareerNaksha
May 24, 2022
Had it not been due for career counselling by CareerNaksha, Ankita Patel’s dream to study abroad would have remained a far cry. She was in need of the proper guidance to pursue higher education abroad. Her hunt for detailed information regarding entrance exams, scholarships, courses, universities, financial management, and tips to excel in coursework and job prospects available after course completion ended with CareerNaksha, a Gujarat-based Career Counselling firm.
Ever since its inception, the start-up has seen increasing participation by girl students. Attribute it to its unique feature of psychological and career counselling and psychometric test, CareerNaksha (www.careernaksha.com) has reached lakhs of girl students across the country, both rural and urban, and has guided them to build their careers.
THE BACKGROUND
According to the latest report by the National Statistical Office (NSO) survey, which provided for state-wise detail of the literacy rate among the persons aged seven years and above, at the all-India level, the male literacy rate was higher at 84.7% compared to 70.3% among women. The study was part of the report on “Household Social Consumption: Education in India as part of 75th round of National Sample Survey – from July 2017 to June 2018”.
As far as the situation in Gujarat is concerned, a report by the National Family Health Survey-5, in 2019-20, showed that only 29% of girl students attended higher secondary school in rural Gujarat, compared to 93.6% for rural Kerala. While the drop in attendance was much lower in rural Kerala, it was the highest in rural Gujarat. Rural Gujarat recorded the highest fall in attendance levels as students progressed from lower to higher education. A study by https://www.indiacensus.net/states/gujrat/literacy pegs the literacy rate in Gujarat at 78.03% in 2022. The situation was worsened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
THE INTERVENTION
Against these backdrops, CareerNaksha has been positively working with girls students across the country. Out of overall students seeking career counselling from CareerNaksha, 60-70% are girls. The start-up has also worked on the girls’ drop-out ratio in the past. “We have been telling them about the importance of education, how they can improve their standard of living, continue their education, and work,” said Nimish Gopal, the young founder of CareerNaksha.
Through their career counselling and psychometric test (www.careernaksha.com), CareerNaksha has helped many girl students identify their strengths, which were conventionally not associated with them. “The most important thing that I had seen in girls students was that they were most interested in subjects like design, arts, and humanities. However, things are changing gradually now with the career counselling that we impart. Now, we see girls opting for subjects like commerce, engineering, and medical sciences. This is a good change,” Nimish said.
CareerNaksha’s psychological counselling involves an essential aspect of convincing both parents and girl students of “equal opportunity”. “Most of the time, parents have this preconceived notion that girl child cannot do engineering or opt for a career that could be physically challenging. We try to break that notion,” Nimish added, appreciating the trend of girl students taking up subjects like Social Work, and Political Science, especially in Gujarat.
RURAL GUJARAT
It has been seen that in rural Gujarat, girl students drop out after XII to X standards. They do not continue their education for the reasons such as supporting their family, marriage, or not being aware of the importance of education. In most cases, families see them as a potential source of earnings. “When CareerNaksha goes to rural Gujarat, particularly in rural or government schools, we conduct an awareness session to emphasize the importance of education. We also focus on skill-based learning such as computer training, laboratory or diagnostic-related courses, and hospitality or service-based industry. Sometimes we invite some girl mentors or girl influencers, who share their success and failure stories and motivate or inspire girl students,” Nimish said.
LIVING HER DREAM
Finally, through her efforts and CareerNaksha’s guidance, Ankita is living her dream. A native of Gujarat, she is now a Graduate Ambassador, Northeastern University College of Engineering, Canada. This tech enthusiast is now pursuing her vision of promoting interdisciplinary innovation and development to open up a new world of possible solutions for complex healthcare challenges. “I congratulate the entire team of CareerNaksha for creating such a wonderful platform of career guidance so that students like us can make the right decision to get the best out of ourselves,” she said.
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