CareeShala

Empowering Every Student to Make Informed Career Choices

Youth unemployment is a growing challenge in India. Government school students often complete their education without the right guidance needed to navigate their career paths, resulting in poor decision-making and missed opportunities. CareerShala Program equips students in grades 9–12 with the knowledge, tools, and support to make informed choices through a local, sustainable ecosystem.

bookmark_border

Bookmark

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Updated April 2025

Web presence

2017

Established

13.4K 2022

41.9K 2023

37.3K 2024

1

Countries

All students

Target group

We envision a future where every student, regardless of background, completes school with the confidence, knowledge, and agency to make informed career choices. Through CareerShala, we aim to make career guidance a core part of the school experience, not a privilege, where career awareness and aspiration are integral to education.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

A major cause of youth unemployment in India is the lack of awareness about diverse, especially local, career opportunities. Through CareerShala we bridge the gap between education and employment by providing government school students with contextual career guidance, exposure, and the agency to make informed life choices.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

CareerShala is implemented in the government. schools for students in grades 9–12. The program includes a contextual, activity-based curriculum focused on self-awareness, career exploration, and planning. Teachers and local facilitators are trained to lead engaging sessions that build students’ knowledge and confidence.

Students learn about a wide range of career paths, meet local role models, and create actionable career plans. The program is deeply embedded in the school system, with strong support from district administrations to ensure long-term sustainability.

Based on 1–2 years of program implementation, evidence from program assessments shows that 66% of students feel confident making career choices, 69% can name 8 or more career options, and 88% report increased clarity on how to pursue their chosen careers. Teachers also report enhanced capacity to guide students.

By involving local youth, parents, and educators, CareerShala creates a community-driven career ecosystem that supports young people in navigating their futures with agency and aspiration.

How has it been spreading?

Since 2017, CareerShala has reached over 98,000 students across 450+ government schools in 5 states of India through strong collaboration with district administrations. Its success is driven by community-rooted facilitators, teacher involvement, and systemic integration. The model is gaining interest from other districts and states and is supported by other NGOs and partnerships with UNICEF.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Reach out to us for access to the CareerShala toolkit and training support. We offer onboarding for teachers and facilitators and co-design resources based on students' needs and local opportunities. Whether you're a school or NGO, we’ll help contextualize and implement the program in your region.

Implementation steps

Need Assessment

Before launching in any geography, a Need Assessment is conducted to understand local context, stakeholder needs, and key industries. This involves engaging principals, teachers, students, and professionals to map aspirations and gaps. Based on findings, content is contextualized with local careers, role models, skill paths, and institutes—making exploration meaningful, achievable, and rooted in reality.

Orientation for School Principals

The CareerShala program starts by orienting school principals, highlighting the program’s goals, student impact, and their key role. Principals then nominate 2–4 engaged, experienced teachers to lead it in classrooms. Their support continues with timetable allocation and organizing events like role model talks and student showcases, ensuring successful implementation.

Teacher Training

After principals nominate teachers, a two-day training workshop is conducted in batches to ensure focused learning. The workshop equips teachers with tools, resources, and clarity to guide students through a five-step career decision-making process. Teachers are introduced to the program’s core elements, which are implemented across four main grade levels.

Grade 9

Teachers focus on building career awareness and exposing students to a wide range of career options. This phase is crucial as it helps students understand the possibilities ahead of them.

Grade 10

Teachers guide students on aligning their stream selections with potential career opportunities. This stage helps students make the right choices regarding subjects and future paths based on their interests and skills.

Grade 11

The focus is to identify their skills and interests matching them with suitable career paths for themselves. This is a critical period as students start to narrow down their career choices and plan for the future.

Grade 12

Selecting their career choices and laying out a detailed plan to achieve their career goals, such as identifying courses, colleges, entrance exams, and the skills needed.

Training

The training also emphasizes the importance of using the resources, which are career cards and self-reflection exercises through worksheets to help students explore their skills and interests. Teachers are trained to facilitate discussions, provide constructive feedback, and guide students through the process of self-reflection and decision-making. Additionally, they are provided with a comprehensive Teacher Manual to support them in conducting the sessions effectively.

Student Baseline Assessment

Following the teacher training, a student baseline assessment is conducted to understand the students’ initial awareness, exposure, and understanding of career-related concepts. Teachers are specifically briefed during the training on how to conduct this baseline, including instructions on facilitation, administration, and data collection methods.Once trained, the teachers themselves carry out the baseline assessment with their respective classes.

Classroom Sessions (6-9 Sessions)

Classroom sessions form the core of the CareerShala program. Teachers conduct 6–9 sessions yearly using a manual, Career Cards, and Reflection Worksheets to help students explore careers. Sessions include peer discussions and are organized in phases—each with 3 sessions and 1 role model interaction. After each phase, teachers submit a report to track progress and gather data for continued support.

Role Model Interaction (Real-Time Interaction with Professionals)

Role Model Interaction is a key part of CareerShala. Held at the end of each phase (2 in total), professionals from diverse fields engage with students to share real-life career journeys. These sessions offer students insights, guidance, and inspiration, helping them connect their academic aspirations with real-world career paths and make informed choices.

Vidyarthi Career Manch (End-of-Year Showcase)

The Vidyarthi Career Manch is the culmination of Careershala program. It is an end-of-year event where students present their learnings, career choices, and future plans in front of their peers, teachers, parents, and local officials. This showcase provides a platform for students to reflect on their journey with the program.
Through this event, students share their career choices, how they arrived at those choices, and the future plan through charts, worksheets and career projects made by them.

Endline Assessment

To measure the impact of the program, an endline assessment is conducted at the end of the year. The team visits a selected sample of participating schools—ensuring a mix of contexts and performances. The endline assessment maps the progress made since the baseline and evaluates the shift in students’ exposure, awareness, and readiness to make career decisions. This assessment is conducted using a pen-and-paper method or digital tools like the Kobo software.