Opinion | Guidance Portal Manzilein 2.0- The Right Guidance at the Right Time

The complex and changing nature of the world of work poses a great challenge to young learners today. Students especially in secondary schools experience difficulties in making career decisions due to a lack of adequate information and guidance which hampers their career development. The department of school education launched the prestigious Jammu and Kashmir career guidance portal Manzilein 2.0 in collaboration with UNICEF. This significant portal has been developed by UNICEF- in collaboration with the School Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir. The prime purpose of this initiative is to To provide the students with the right guidance at the right time, The online address to this portal is www.jkcareerportal.org. It is accessible to all the students of Government schools from class 9th to 12th through unique Aadhaarshila IDs in the Jammu division and LMS IDs in the Kashmir division. This portal will help students in exploring over more than 555 careers, 21000 colleges, 262,000 programs in 16 countries, and also 1150 entrance exams, vocational courses, and 1120 scholarships. Principal Secretary, Education Department, Alok Kumar launched this prestigious “Jammu and Kashmir career guidance portal Manzilein 2.0” at a ceremony held at Jammu Govt. Polytechnic College Jammu where the same portal was unveiled in Kashmir province by Director of School Education Tasssaduq Hussain, Director NIT-Srinagar, Professor Rakesh Sehgal, and Director JKSTIC, Dr. Nisar Shah at Higher Secondary School Kothi-Bagh Srinagar. Other participants who were present in this inaugural function were, CEO’s from various districts Principals, teachers, counselors, and students. All the speakers gave an elaborative speech in which they emphasized the importance of guidance and counseling while choosing or grabbing their career opportunities without wasting their valuable time. The last session of the event remained more exciting when Sheikh Inayat Ullah, CEO-Move Beyond and Danish Sir-Education Specialist at UNICEF gave a detailed description of this particular portal. Taking advantage of the time, Sheikh Inayat Ullah did instant Career counseling to many students. During his motivational speech, he urge the teachers sitting in the hall to become the ambassadors of this mission and enlighten the student about its application and significance so that they will take the maximum benefit of this unique portal that has been designed after extensive fieldwork and research. Teachers and students pose relevant questions and the speaker on the stage gave a patient hearing of all those queries and questions. Let me mention here some of the relevant questions that involved more debate and attention. One of the teachers Manzoor Ahmad Dar-having a psychological background submit his suggestion that there should be psychological labs where the I.Q. level of the students must be checked before selecting any career option. But these tests should be conducted under the supervision of well-trained professionals. There is a need to establish career guidance and counseling cells in the district, Zone, or cluster levels which must be adequately equipped to assist the students to make informed career decisions, and information disseminated to them concerning subject combinations. NEP -2020 also stresses timely career guidance of students.

This entire process will be beneficial if all the stakeholders work together. Other relative processes must be taken care of. For example, if a student by his own choice, capacity, and ability to adopt a BBA course to establish his business venture. His future career is dependent on his financial requisitions. The concerned government has a role to provide him/her or every possible support on time so that he/she to fulfill their aspirations by setting up realistic goals. The government should create new job opportunities for our youth so that they will get depressed or disappointed.
Schools have a huge role in bringing out the best in children. Good conduct is coveted, but sometimes young minds need guidance to polish their personality. Through counseling, children are advised on how to manage and deal with emotional conflict and personal problems. The general public tends to view counseling as a remedial function and emphasizes immediate goals, such as problem solution, tension reduction, and the like, counselee may refer to the resolution of a particular conflict or problem situation. Counseling in its spirit and essence is generative, it aims at assisting the individual to develop his personality. The function concluded on a positive note. Sheikh Inayat-Ullah- coordinator of the event assured the participants that their suggestion will be given due respect and same will be submitted to the higher authorities so that this new initiative becomes more and more viable and goal-oriented.

About Writer : Haroon Rashid Bhat is a teacher and columnist.
minamharoon123@gmail.com