India’s First Career Portal

• 07 Feb 2019

The Rajasthan government launched India’s first “career portal” to address the needs of secondary and higher secondary students (from class 9th to 12th) for information on scholarships and career choices.

• The portal launched with the support of United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is expected to help the students take “informed decisions” about their academic and professional pursuits.
• By enabling the students to choose their career path matching with their aspirations, interest, inclination and aptitude, the portal would reduce dropouts at various stages in schools and improve retention in jobs.
• The portal was developed by UNICEF after an assessment of needs, awareness and perspective of students, teachers and system functionaries.
• It will provide information on 200 vocational and 237 professional careers, 455 employment avenues, 960 scholarships, 955 competitive examinations and 10,000 institutions of higher education to the students from Classes IX to XII.

Why Rajasthan?

• UNICEF had selected Rajasthan for launching the portal because of its track record in employment-oriented education.
• Most of the boys and girls in the State were keen to join the workforce as soon as they finished Class X or XII. Besides, the assessment revealed a substantial progress in terms of gender equality among the students.
• According to the assessment conducted by UNICEF, two largest sources of career information for students are teachers and family members. About 69% of students mentioned that they were using Internet for their career-related queries, which indicates that the adolescents will quickly learn to use the career portal.
• The establishment of Rajiv Gandhi Career Counselling Cell for adolescents and youths was also announced. The cell will link school and college students with skill development programmes and internship opportunities in the pursuit of their career choices.

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

• The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II.
• In 1950, its mandate was broadened to address the long-term needs of children and women in developing countries everywhere. UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations system in 1953.
• UNICEF is headquartered in New York, USA.