Jamshedpur, Nov. 12: Students of XLRI under the banner of Samarthya, a student body dedicated to the cause of the development of potential of school children of Jamshedpur, organised �Disha �15� on the B-school campus grounds to provide career guidance to students.
Disha, the career counseling workshop, saw a participation of a total of 300 students from Class X and XII along with their parents. Students from Loyola School, Motilal Nehru Public School, DBMS, ADLS Sunshine, Kerala Samajam Model School, Rajendra Vidyalaya, Beldih Church School, DAV, Narbheram Hansraj English School, JH Tarapore, Little Flower, KPS Burma Mines, Carmel Junior College and St. Mary�s English High School participated in the event.
The key speakers were on the occasion included Fr. Sebastian Puthenpura (principal, Loyola School), Indrani Singh (principal, ADLS Sunshine School), Ronald D�Costa (Hotelier and XLRI alumnus – 1968 Batch), Sr. Doris D�Souza (professor, XLRI) and Prof. ISF Irudayaraj (XLRI), Coordinator (CEMLR) and chief advisor of Samarthya.
The event began with the lighting of the ceremonial lamps and an enlightening welcome address by Prof. Irudayaraj.
This was followed by several key note speeches by the dignitaries present. Fr. Sebastian spoke of dissonance caused by wrong career choices and encouraged students to live by the dictum of �Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish�. Indrani Singh talked about teachers as guides, mentors as well as friends and inspired students to break stereotypes. Sr. Doris talked about three pillars of life � nature, nurture and teacher. Ronald D�Costa talked of entrepreneurship and about taking the road less travelled.
The counseling session started with a discussion by experts on the process of selecting a career and was followed by other events wherein the students of XLRI from as diverse as 20 backgrounds talking to the school students about their own career paths in life.
There were kiosks for various career options like law, sociology, commerce, arts, medicine, biotechnology, engineering, mass media, hotel management and the armed forces where XLRI students from the relevant background took the individual questions and doubts raised by the school students.
Arun, one of the convenors of Samarthya said, �When I had just graduated of my school, I always felt that had there been someone who could have guided me according to my abilities and my interests; it would have been so great. We at Samarthya, are just trying to provide that opportunity to the young students of Jamshedpur.�
XLRI faculty member, Prof. ISF Irudayaraj, who is the guiding force behind Samarthya, commented, �It is indeed a great initiative on the part of XLRI students to reach out to school youth to help them understand the purpose and meaningfulness of a happy life. It is a commendable activity which our students have undertaken as a part of �Centre for Education, research and leadership� of XLRI. I wish them all the best.�