The problem of career inequity is a social problem. The onus on breaking the social construct cannot be on the children alone. Parents significantly influence their child's career choices. Thus, we identified that there is a need to involve parents in career planning, to bridge the communication gap between parents and students, and empower parents to support the aspirations of their children.
Antarang runs two distinct programs CareerAware that targets 14 - 16 year-olds and CareeReady that focuses on the 18 - 25 year age group. Through these programs, Antarang helps youth build aspirations and enable successful transitions by actively involving parents in the process.
Under CareerAware, we undertake parent meetings to make them aware of the multitude of careers that their child can choose from and encourage them to support their child's aspirations. At the end of our career awareness program, we hold a counseling session with both the student and the parents to discuss the top 3 career choices and corresponding career plans.
Under CareeReady, we conduct parent meetings focused on bridging the communication gap between the youth and the parents. The parents are also encouraged to break certain stereotypes that limit their child's career choice. Our community meetings and walks empower parents to voice their opinions and concerns around their child's career.
We have successfully conducted more than 100,000 hours of counselling with parents and XXX hours of parent meetings. One of the major outcomes of increased parent engagement has been a higher percentage of employment linkages for the students. Further, we have been able to spread our innovation to new locations in India- Goa and Udaipur (Rajasthan) in the past 2 years.
Our primary goal for the next 3 years is to embed phygital career campuses in the formal education systems of India to institutionalize and digitize parent involvement in the career planning of students. We plan to increase parent attendance and the frequency of parent interactions. Further, we are creating a digital career tracker that will be a one-stop destination for parents to track their child's career pathway.
If you are a non-profit wanting to engage parents actively in student's education then you should first try to find or build spaces where you can do this. For us, it was schools, colleges, and communities. Secondly, if you aim to regularize their engagement then you should institutionalize the parent interactions as part of school systems.
Reach out to info@antarangfoudation.org for more info!
