Geetanjali Krishna: Dial C for counselling

Some weeks ago, this column had bemoaned the lack of awareness of opportunities among economically backward students through the story of the XIIth Class student Sagar. A first-time learner from a government school, Sagar was confused about what to do with his life, and not receiving focused advice from either school or home. One of the reader responses to his story mentioned an interesting effort in Andhra Pradesh to bridge this information gap, especially among rural students - the Vidya Helpline. The idea intrigued me since given the extent of cell phone penetration in India now, call centre career counselling could be an efficient way of reaching out to a large number of students.

"We've observed that although there are many sources of information about career and study options, many rural students aren't able to access them efficiently," said Chandra Sekhar P, CEO of Vidya Helpline. "It isn't lack of resources or money, but the sheer lack of awareness that often prevents rural youths from getting good jobs." Their toll-free number (1800 425 2425), provides students with access to counsellors who advise them on careers, vocational and job-oriented courses, open education, scholarships and more. In addition, Vidya Helpline also organises career counselling workshops to inspire and educate students of classes X and XI about the options open to them. "We urge students to look beyond medicine and engineering. Today there are so many vocational options, especially good for students of limited means who need a guaranteed job after they complete their studies," said Shekhar.

In order to collect all the relevant information, the helpline staff scans four newspapers on scholarships, exam schedules, entrance tests and free courses offered by institutes. They disburse this information through their call centres, workshops and have also recently started sending information about scholarships and free courses to over thirty Andhra Pradesh NGOs working with children. "Further, we analyse students' results and then tell them what the most practical choices are. So if a student wants to study medicine but hasn't got enough marks, we would tell him about the best paramedical courses s/he can apply for," he said.

To illustrate the impact that this information can potentially have, Chandrashekhar told me the story of Dilawar, the teenaged son of a handicapped lorry driver. After Class X, impecunious circumstances forced him to take a job in a small hotel at a salary of Rs 1,000 a month. In a chance conversation with a Vidya Helpline career counsellor, he learnt that Hyderabad's National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management was offering a free three-month course on hotel management. "Dilawar took the course and after that, got placed in a restaurant for a salary of Rs 6,000 a month. Having seen how one tiny bit of information changed the course of his life, he wants to apply for other free courses that could further enhance his earning potential," said Chandrashekhar.

Vidya Helpline seems like a good example of how technology can aid and facilitate social development. Consider the figures: the helpline addressed over 83,000 queries from 25,000 students and assisted more than 42,829 rural students through workshops till June 30, 2013. The beauty of this model is its scalability - currently, Vidya Helpline has one central tele-counselling centre with five telephone lines. They plan to start regional centres all over Andhra Pradesh and have also set up a pilot call centre in Odisha. "We want our toll-free number to become accessible nationwide. Our aim is to provide every student with accurate knowledge about his/her career and study options, and banish the confusion in their minds," says Chandrashekhar.

If knowledge is power, then technologies like Vidya Helpline are bridging the information gap and empowering poor students every day, one phone call at a time.