Charting career paths

A counselling helpline started by a group of BITS, Pilani alumni is helping students from rural India realise their dreams

A couple of years ago, Mohammad Dilawar was just another impoverished youth who had dropped out of school to support his family in Telangana. Today, he works with a restaurant chain and plans to study further through open school.

Being his family's sole breadwinner, Kapil Minz had to quit school in class X. He used to run a kiosk that repaired mobile phones, earning about Rs 5,000 per month. Today, in addition to this, he is also a professional photographer, earning Rs 12,000 per month covering weddings and other events.

Maalika, a bright student from Nizamabad, was at her wit's end when she received her engineering entrance results. Her family could not afford the annual fee of over Rs 1 lakh required to study the subject. Today, she is studying at one of the top five engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh.

These three youngsters are among the 250,000 individuals who sought the help of Hyderabad-based Vidya Helpline (1800-425-2425), a free phone-in career counselling service run by Nirmaan, a citizen's initiative founded in 2005 by a group of BITS, Pilani alumni. "Since rural students in India are often first-generation learners, they suffer from a lack of timely career and educational guidance," says Chandra Sekhar P, CEO of the helpline. "Consequently, many of them don't even get to know about the several schemes and opportunities that the government and private sector is offering them. We want to bridge this knowledge divide so that our students are able to pursue the courses and careers of their choice." To this end, Vidya Helpline has a three-pronged approach: a phone-in service that students can access, face-to-face counselling sessions in rural schools, and their latest project, a mentorship scheme - Career Saathi, for meritorious but economically disadvantaged students. They have covered 1,000 rural and urban schools through their counselling workshops in the last five years. Earlier this year, 25 students were selected for the Career Saathi programme.

Clearly, Vidya Helpline is addressing a heartfelt need. Operational currently in Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and lately, Assam, it receives 40,000 calls every month. Initially, it began with only two full-time staff members. Today, it has 35. "Still, we find that we are woefully short-staffed," says Sekhar. "We're able to address only a quarter of the calls we receive." However, since the task at hand involves counselling, Sekhar is selective about the people they hire. "It is a tough, skilled job. The person has to be aware of all the career options open to individuals with different attitudes, as well as stay abreast with all the upcoming exams and scholarships," he says.

Instead, the helpline is implementing a series of innovative technology-based solutions to address the problem of the manpower crunch. "We send SMSes and voice message alerts to our entire database of students to inform them about entrance examination dates," says Sekhar. "Further, we're currently testing the prototype of a mobile app that will have information on more than 100 career options. Hopefully, we will launch this in January 2016," he adds.

Currently, the Career Saathi programme, which was launched last month, is taking up most of their time. "The mentorship will include everything from English language and communication skills development to training in interview skills," he explains. This intensive mentorship will be aimed at ensuring that the students receive every possible help they need to succeed in getting good jobs in their areas of interest. "We've estimated that for merely Rs 20,000 a year, we can mentor a deserving child until s/he finds a career of their choice," says Sekhar. Next year, they plan to select 100 students for this programme.

Sekhar also plans to expand the helpline in the next three years. Given the impact each call centre has, the cost of setting one up is not high. "A new centre with two parallel telephone lines costs about Rs 15 lakh per annum, with a minimum of five people to work them. This can address 15,000 calls annually," says Sekhar. Currently, their work is partially supported by individual donors, corporations and India Literacy Project, a non-government organisation.

Its beneficiaries, meanwhile, are quietly transforming their lives. Dilawar was advised by the helpline's counsellors to take up a free course in hotel management from National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality. Now, the young man has a steady job and aims to do higher certification courses in fire and safety. After a chat with the helpline team in Bhubaneswar, Minz was able to gather information about photography courses he could pursue. Soon, he bought a camera from his personal savings and became a professional photographer. Vidya Helpline helped Maalika obtain a fee waiver and scholarship, which is helping her to pursue her dream of becoming an engineer.

"Without advice from Vidya Helpline, I don't know what I would have done," says Dilawar. "In this selfish age where everyone is busy with their own lives, the counsellors at Vidya Helpline are the only people who give students like me, their time and full support."

To learn more, visit vidyahelpline.org, or their page on Facebook
Next up, the story of a young activist who has become the first ever individual to have annulled 29 child marriages in Rajasthan