For the majority of students, a visit to the two-day The Tribune Education Expo in Shimla turned out to be quite beneficial. Interactions with the representatives of leading universities, colleges and other educational institutions at the event helped them get clarity about the paths they wanted to take after school. The career counselling sessions turned out to be the icing on the cake. “Interactions with the representatives of the universities and the colleges have broadened our horizons. Thanks to the event, we now know there are many more choices available to us than we thought,” said Avishi and Divyanshi, students of St Thomas School.
The majority of students had not been to any education expo before and they found The Tribune Education Expo beneficial in many ways. According to some students, they learnt about various other branches available in the streams they are pursuing. “Broadly, the goal of the students pursuing medical and non-medical courses is cracking NEET and JEE. We knew about a few other options in these streams but now we know about many more,” said Kashish and Divyanshi, students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Portmore.
For the students, who have cleared Class XII and have taken exams for their preferred courses, the event helped to identify their back-up options. “My friend and I have appeared for NEET and JEE, respectively. If we don’t succeed in these exams, we now know more about our back-up options,” said Nitin Sharma.
Renu Thakur, a teacher at Saraswati Vidya Mandir, said that the students got a valuable exposure and guidance at the event. “We also advise students about career opportunities and courses at the school but our knowledge is limited compared to professional counsellors. In that context, the experience is going to help the students a lot,” she added.
For the participating educational institutions as well, the event proved quite beneficial, given the impressive footfall on both days of the event. A university representative felt that the event would have been even more useful for both students and educational institutions had it been held immediately after the Class XII exam results were announced. “That is the time when most of the students are looking for admissions and need advice and help. Nevertheless, a large number of students came to us with queries,” said the university representative.
Contrary to the perception that students in the hills are less informed than their counterparts in the plains, Chandigarh for instance, the academic institutions found them quite well informed. “Students were well informed about the choices they have and even knew about the salary packages they could get. And this is true of government school students, not just of private school students,” said Maninder Singh Heer of Chitkara University.
The participating banks also received a number of queries from students and their parents about the availability of educational loans. A representative of the Bank of Baroda said that educational loans were available quite easily to ensure no student was denied the opportunity to study beyond school due to a shortage of funds. “There’s no collateral required for a loan up to Rs 7.5 lakh. And students have the option of repaying loans after the completion of their courses,” he added.
