Maharashtra Career Portal
The School Education and Sports Department, Maharashtra, has launched a career portal to provide career guidance, information and opportunities to students in Classes 9 to 12. It contains comprehensive information on possible careers, colleges, vocational institutions, entrance examinations and scholarships.
This career portal has been launched in partnership with Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training (MSCERT) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The career portal contains information about 500 careers that are regularly updated. “The content is gender inclusive and attempts to break gender and ability stereotypes,” says the official statement. This portal will benefit about 66 lakh students in Classes 9 to 12.
Maharashtra Career Portal
The career portal enables students to choose a career path that matches their aspirations and interests. The portal will have the information on the colleges, vocational centers and also scholarships required to pursue their choice. It also includes non-traditional career areas such as agriculture and food sciences; hospitality and tourism; virology; animation and graphics and sports and fitness.
The learner can look up the portal for a career domain and understand the eligibility, educational requirements, colleges in different states and countries regarding various courses, scholarships and fellowships. The portal will also tell students about different entry-points to the field and various growth options in that career domain.
Launch Of Portal
The Minister of School Education, Varsha Gaikwad launched the career portal via a webinar on 22 May 2020. The webinar was attended by over 5,000 officials from the education department, including the district and sub-district career counsellors, according to the official statement.
Ms. Varsha Gaikwad said: “The career portal will empower our students to explore various career options, even those that they may otherwise not be exposed to. The Portal will also serve as an important tool to the state counsellors to support students in making an informed choice about their future. This is especially important for empowering our young girls”
Partnership With UNICEF
Recognizing the need of a resource to facilitate transition from school to higher education and workforce, the School Education and Sports Department of Maharashtra had partnered with UNICEF.
The portal was originally developed by UNICEF in partnership with another organization, iDreamCareer. This portal has been adapted to the Maharashtra requirements, in collaboration with the MSCERT.
It is available in Marathi and English.
Ms. Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, Chief, UNICEF Maharashtra. Said: “During a time of such pandemics, when there is always a fear that older students may drop out of the education system, this portal will help students to ensure that they continue with their education”
The official statement says, “As a part of the initiative, the teachers will be capacitated virtually on the structure and content of the career guidance for students. Students will also receive an orientation to create their own unique profiles and navigate the portal to discover the different career domains, through career workshops organized by the MSCERT in collaboration with UNICEF and iDreamCareer.”
The career portal will soon be made available at www.mahacareerportal.com. The login IDs for all students will be created by May 27.