Profile Building Activity – Essential for Students Pursing Higher Education in Indian and Abroad.

The children and young population in India are one of the highest cohorts at this point in time. Children born between 1997 to 2010 now contribute to a little over 36 crores of India’s total population of over 140 Crores now.

As the population of this cohort increases in India, the growth in school admissions also growing accordingly. Between 2010 to 2021, there 185% increase in the number of students passing from CBSE (from 7 Lakhs to 13 Lakhs).

Also, there is a substantial increase in the manner the children are now scoring marks in the 10^th board exams. Students scoring 90% or more have increased 8 times between 2010 to 2020 (17,546 to 1,57,934). And students scoring 95% or more has increased just doubled in two years (2019 to 2020).

At the same time, the admissions into the top colleges and universities and colleges in India and Abroad are becoming tougher.

For example, getting into the top 100 Engineering colleges in India (which have approx. 45000 seats) in India could be very tough at just 3.6%. The probability to get into IIT or NIT is 1.1% and 1.7% respectively. There is a YouTube video about this which you can check out. https://youtu.be/gqXRj__BFzc.

Getting into the MBBS or BDS college in India is also fairly tough, there are about 83 K MBBS seats and 26 K BDS Seats, and over 16 Lakhs students attempt to get into those colleges. Check out a relevant video about the same on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5QlAoYOo60I

Another example of the Law exam, CLAT, for about 2100 seats, over 62 K students appeared in 2021.

In the National Education Policy, there is mention of the shift from the traditional method to the more holistic approach of assessment soon.

The below para is referred from the NEP 2020

“It is proposed to set up a National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), as a standard-setting body under MHRD that fulfills the basic objectives of setting norms, standards, and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognized school boards of India, guiding the State Achievement Survey (SAS) and undertaking the National Achievement Survey (NAS), monitoring achievement of learning outcomes in the country, and encouraging and helping school boards to shift their assessment patterns towards meeting the skill requirements of the 21st century in consonance with the stated objectives of this Policy. This Centre will also advise school boards regarding new assessment patterns and the latest research, promote collaborations between school boards. It will also become an instrument for the sharing of best practices among school boards, and for ensuring equivalence of academic standards among learners across all school boards.”

 From Page 37.

“A holistic and multidisciplinary education would aim to develop all capacities of human beings -intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional, and moral in an integrated manner. Such an education will help develop well-rounded individuals that possess critical 21^st-century capacities in fields across the arts, humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences, and professional, technical, and vocational fields; an ethic of social engagement; soft skills, such as communication, discussion, and debate; and rigorous specialization in a chosen field or fields. Such a holistic education shall be, in the long term, the approach of all undergraduate programs, including those in professional, technical, and vocational disciplines.”

Page 47

“Thus, this Policy envisions a comprehensive approach to transforming the quality and quantity of research in India. This includes definitive shifts in school education to a more play and discovery-based style of learning with an emphasis on the scientific method and critical thinking. This includes career counseling in schools towards identifying student interests and talents, promoting research in universities, the multidisciplinary nature of all HEIs and the emphasis on holistic education, the inclusion of research and internships in the undergraduate curriculum, faculty career management systems that give due weightage to research, and the governance and regulatory changes that encourage an environment of research and innovation. All of these aspects are extremely critical for developing a research mindset in the country.”

In view of the above developments in terms of the demographics of India and the changes in the proposed National Educational Policy, it is prudent to engage your child in some kind of holistic development program which can be Co-Curricular, Extra – Curricular, Academic Honors Programs, Career-Focused Courses, and Summer Internship Programs to give the child the explore the various career options before choosing the best fit.

In the case of Abroad education, this becomes even more important, as the UG colleges look at the holistic profile of the student and not just only the academic grades.

Holistic development will take a few years ranging from 1 to 4 years, so the early one starts, the better for the child in the wake of the forthcoming intense competition in his or her cohort.