Career, Collaboration, and Comprehension

Over the past couple of days, I’ve had the opportunity to conduct Career Center interviews on behalf of TeamUP at Guru Harkrishan School, Nangal-Ghoman. I interviewed the 7th graders of the school in order to gauge how much these students have started to think about career choices and furthering their education. My role was to collect this data via one-on-one conversations regarding their role models, interests, and occupational ambitions. This data will serve to keep track of how prepared students are in choosing their stream (field of study) for their “plus two” stage of education that is completed in the two final years of secondary education. Given that it is extraordinarily difficult to modify one’s stream in Punjab’s education system, TeamUP will use the data collected to address specific needs and trends amongst the students in order to best prepare them for such an important decision.

During my enquiries I caught a glimpse of the hurdles these students face in pursuing their education. Like other students across Punjab, there is an immense amount of pressure put on them to learn English. However, despite parental pressures to learn English and attending a school with English as the medium of instruction, most students I had interacted with had a minimal grasp of the language. I could only imagine the difficulty of facing such a language barrier while attempting to learn complex subjects such as math, science, and history. Breaking down this language barrier by way of increased emphasis on English reading comprehension and student collaboration is one project Pahulmeet is currently working on.