Year 2: 2012-2013 - Isha Outreach

Career Guidance programs by Cognizant
At the beginning of 2013, we organized a number of one-day Career Guidance programs for
5,631 10 th and 12 th Standard students from 27 of our adopted schools. These were
conducted, designed and implemented by Cognizant Foundation (CTS) - a leading provider
of IT, consulting and business-process services – through their „Junior Achievement
Program‟.
During the 6-hour workshops, CTS program volunteers helped students identify their future
career potential by exploring their overall goals and objectives. Most students (all 1 st
generation school-goers), were clueless about their future goals and did not know enough
about their career options. The workshops enabled them understand how their skills could
translate into future careers, and gave them an opportunity to interact with professionals,
which inspired them more. Overall, the students were guided in the various educational paths
available to them based on their individual strengths, and each was given a guidebook and a
toll-free phone number which they could call at any time for ongoing support on their career
planning.
The first session in Dharmapuri was significant to CTS as it helped them reach their target of
100,000 students, which they set in 2008. The District Education Officer of Secondary
Education was invited to observe that session, along with volunteers from Isha Higher
Education, who attended the Salem program as well. They gave a speech on "Engineering
as career option" at both sessions. At the end of the Dharmapuri program, the 120 CTS
volunteers planted tree saplings in our school yards, lending their support to our
GreenSchools program.
Table 6: Summary of Career Guidance Workshops
Dharmapuri
(Jan. 19)
Salem
(Jan. 21)
Coimbatore
(Feb. 9)
Total Schools 12 5 10
Total Students 4,707 292 632
P a g e | 15: GSAP Annual Review 2012-2013
www.ishaoutreach.org/gsap