Not gold but only men can make
A nation great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly…
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
Years back when Ralph Waldo Emerson was writing these lines, he surely had the youth on his mind. Many wise people stress on the significance of the right education and upbringing of youth for the progress and prosperity of any state.
Such a tender age, but so much emphasis is laid on the right education of these young creative minds that hold in their hands powers even unknown to them.
This Saturday, 1 st of February 2020, a group of 20 young and passionate professionals and students gathered at Badri High School with the purpose of providing guidance in choosing a career to the current batch of Class X, and their parents, at BHS. These professionals have themselves studied with financial assistance from Syedna Tahir Saifuddin Memorial Foundation, an organization which was established with the blessings and benedictions of Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin R.A, in March 1966, with a purpose of providing educational and medical relief to mumineen.
The career counseling session began with an introduction of STSMF, its objectives and procedures. Five speakers belonging to the major fields of Medical, Engineering, Business Education, Arts and architecture and Computer Science shared how and why they chose these fields. These speakers clearly shared the scope of every field along with the road map one has to take if they wish to choose any of these as their potential career choice. The added advantage was the information about the degrees in every field, the institutions offering them and the criteria for admission.
Students and their parents were completely engrossed in the sessions. One could easily see spark in the eyes of Hatim Huzaifa, a student of Class X, when Computer Science was being discussed, while, during the presentation of the Engineering field, Asma, yet another student, was visibly interested.
As soon as the speaking session ended, a one-on-one counseling round began with students and their parents. 20 professionals from STSMF sat in different rooms. Students went to the room where the counselor from their
required field sat ready to answer any query they might have in mind. From admission criteria to scope of the field, from the course outline to project and field work, every question and ambiguity was cleared by the counselors.
Altogether, five rooms with three to four field related professionals in one room were set up. For instance, the room for medical fields had a MBBS, a physiotherapist and a pharmacist guiding the students who sought advice, while the engineering room had a civil engineer, a mechatronics engineer, an electrical engineer and a polymer engineer to attend to aspiring engineers.
Parents were equally motivated to talk to the counselors as they waited outside the rooms for the field of interest of their children.
This session proved to be a life changing experience for students and parents both as it revealed the hidden passion of students and equipped them with enough knowledge about the scope and demand of every field, so that now, when they step out of school, they know exactly what road to take and where to go.
