SYED TANVEER AHMED is presently Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Director of itsMedia Department and Markazi Taleemi Board. He graduated from University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore,and did post-graduation in Business Management and Administration. He is an experienced management and leadership expert with more than 20 years’ experience.He is also the CEO of Brainy Stars,which manages 30 pre-schools in India. He is engaged in various educational activities such as teacherstraining, conducting parenting classes, training of management, students counselling and career guidance lectures. He has been honoured with various awards: Ambedkar Award for contribution towards Dalit Literature and Sadbhavana Award, etc. In an interview with MOHD NAUSHAD KHAN, he suggested establishment of at least one centralised unit equipped with all the information on careers, at the district level.
First of all, we would like to know what is career guidance and why do we need it?
Career guidance is nothing but showing the student what is the career and what are the opportunities available in the present day. In a traditional way, our generation knows only two traits. One is medicine, the other is engineering. It is dire need of the hour to show our generation that there are a variety of careers with a variety of disciplines through which they can join various fields and lead a happy and prosperous life and can contribute to the country and to the community.
It appears that our system gives comparatively more preference to education rather than career guidance?
As far as policies are concerned, it is written that every high school should have a career counsellor and the Government has advised high schools to organise career counselling melas, seminars, symposia, etc. The Government is very much aware and they are taking active measures. But unfortunately, parents are not aware and the problem is we address students, but not the parents. In our country, it is the parents who decide the career of their wards. Instead, students should decide their careers. So, if a person had aspiration of becoming a doctor but he could not achieve his aspiration in his life then he wants to see his desire fulfilled by his son. This is the problem with most of parents. A collective effort should be made to empower the parents.
In 2022, the Government of Tamil Nadu decided to distribute career guidance material to students of classes 9 to 12. Do you believe other States should follow the suit?
Union Education Ministry and CBSEare taking very good measures to educate students about the careers. There is a lot of literature available online and NCERT has produced very good lectures on that. Even private NGOs have produced a lot of videos on career counselling and career guidance. So, the need of the hour is to create overall awareness in the society,especially among parents.
Now our students are deciding their careers under the pressure of parentsor peer group. The idea that my friend has selected this subject; that’s why I should also opt for it, is working. There is a need to create overall awareness, particularly, I must say, among the Muslim community. We don’t deliver sermons on education and career. So, there should be at least 4 or 5 sermons every year to introduce various career options to parents. I tried this in Sikar when I was delivering a Khutbah on career counselling and parents were very excited. They came forward and said that such types of Khutbah should be delivered on a regular basis.
Recently, a study has been conducted in Delhi about Muslims,revealing that around 20 percent students were not even interested in education. So, what could be the possible reasons?Is it because of lack of awareness or absence of career and guidance mechanism? Or parents are not motivated?
All these factors are responsible and it starts with the objectives of education. Objectives of education are not clear in the minds of students and parents. Most of the students believe that getting education or getting a degree is only for the sake of employment.This has been popularised through our policymakers. Our policymakers say that our education should produce employable generation. So, this concept is going in the minds of students. Education means we should be able to get jobs. Since we are not getting jobs then what is the use of education.
But our concept of education is more than getting jobs. Our concept is that a student should achieve a long-term goal and a short-term goal. Long term goal of education is to connect a person with the metaphysical world, to connect him with the hereafter. So, his life hereafter should succeed.And the short-term goal is success in this world, and his life here should also be happy and prosperous. Again, prosperity doesn’t mean earning money or getting material assets. It is also about your attitude, about your social behaviour, about soft skills you are possessing and the knowledge you are possessing. For example, a person who knows good Urdu will be understanding ghazals and songs in a better way than an illiterate man.And illiterate person just enjoys music, whereas a literate person enjoys music plus lyrics.
This is the thing that we need to popularise.First, the objective of ilm, which is nothing but to create wisdom and connect a person with the hereafter and elevate him. It will change the life pattern and the behaviour pattern.These things are missing nowadays.
Secondly, our education system is so corrupt that weak students do not get proper support. Once he starts getting declined in the results of annual examination, he is pushed behind. There is no system to support weak students. There should be a support system and a condition and an environment where he can get his doubts clarified and improve himself. The Government of Delhi is doing a lot of efforts in this regard and this kind of effort should be taken in the entire country.
Thirdly, we have got economical problem, which should be addressed.Proper scholarship should be provided, economical support and affirmative action from the Government should be there. Instead of supporting more, the Government is withdrawing scholarships. So, the Governmentshould change this attitude.
Lastly, we should improve the quality of government schools because private education is becoming costlier day by day.It is bound to happen because private schools need to pay salaries, improve the infrastructure and there are a lot of expenses required for running the school. So, fees are high and because of this reason many parents are unable to get their wards educated in private schools.
As we are in the age of artificial intelligence and technological advancement, do you think there should be any kind of change in our career and guidance programme?Or should it remain the same?
National Curriculum Frameworkreleased its draft on April 6. This draft has emphasised on mathematical logic, computing and numeracy and also computer literacy and artificial intelligence. Because in near future, 90percent of subjects and 90 percent of knowledge will be controlled and based on artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is going to occupy a great importance and a great role to run one’s life, even organisations. So, certainly we need to teach our kids about artificial intelligence and it is not a big deal. Artificial intelligence is a combination of many subjects, which we were already teaching like mathematics, statistics, etc.
Is there adequate mechanism of carrier guidance in minority institutions?
It is a very good question.In one of my articles, I have emphasised on having at least one centralisedunit or kind of organisation equipped with all the information on careers, at the district level. They should not only possess knowledge and information, but also be able to conduct psychometric and other tests.They should discuss, negotiate and counsel students and parents and this has to be done at a high school level. After conducting all this process, first this particular organisation should educate our high school boys about the careers available.
At the second level, they have to conduct psychometric test and aptitude test and conduct counselling of students and parents both.
Then at the third level, after processing the data, you give options to the student that his aptitude and test shows that he is fit for these careers. If we do this, we will be able to send our boys to various streams and fields. Muslims have increased their presence in medical and engineering. But in many sectors and in many institutions of national importance, our presence is zero because we don’t have awareness. Our students don’t know, likewise we don’t have presence and if at all we have, it is very minimal, for example in the defence field. Our boys think defence means becoming army personnel. But it is not like that. There are various trades, and positions in the defence sector. We need to educate our students. This is the system I have suggested.
Finally, what role is the Jamaat playing in career and guidance?Is there any institution to promote it?
Yes, we have The Centre for Training and Guidance, which is the centralised institution in Delhi, which is coordinating with various institutions, and the state level units and we are trying to educate students about careers and all the suggestions which I gave above are being implemented through this platform.
Is Markazi Taleemi Board doing anything in this regard?
Markazi Taleemi Board is collaborating with The Centre for Training and Guidance and also coordinating with many institutions like one in Kerala CG.There are some institutions in various states and we are also coordinating and collaborating with FEMI (Federation of Muslim Institutions of India). So, we are striving in this regard and we believe on collaborative efforts.