Every year, students leave school having completed their syllabus and examinations, yet many remain uncertain about the opportunities available to them and the choices they must make next. As a career counsellor and founder of an institution specializing in competitive entrance examinations, I have interacted with students from several schools through career seminars, workshops and awareness sessions. I have also experienced the other side of this process: schools that are not supportive at all and consider career awareness sessions a waste of valuable time and resources. On several occasions, proposals for such sessions have been dismissed because they were seen as a distraction from academics or as an activity that did not directly contribute to examination results. These experiences have shown me that career guidance is too often treated as an optional activity, even though it can significantly influence a student’s academic decisions and future direction. Schools therefore have a responsibility to make structured, credible career awareness an integral part of education—not something accommodated only when the timetable permits. I completely understand that school schedules are demanding and that academic priorities cannot be compromised. However, I sometimes find it difficult to understand why schools are so selective or reluctant about allowing credible institutions and professionals to conduct career awareness and guidance sessions for their students, often on the grounds that such sessions disturb the academic timetable. In some cases, schools appear to view these programmes as an unnecessary expense or an activity with no immediate academic return. This approach overlooks the fact that helping students make informed decisions is itself an important educational responsibility. In my view, this is precisely where schools need to broaden their perspective. A school’s responsibility does not end with completing the syllabus, conducting examinations and producing academic rank-holders. The real measure of education should also be how well a school prepares its students for life after school—the choices they will make, the careers they will pursue and the contribution they will eventually make to society. Students today have an extraordinary range of options after Class 10 and Class 12. There are conventional and emerging careers, multiple undergraduate pathways, specialized entrance examinations, professional courses, liberal arts programmes, management programmes, law, design, international education and many other possibilities. Yet many students—and often their parents—remain unaware of these opportunities. Career awareness cannot be effective if it begins only when a student is about to submit an application. Students need exposure much earlier so that they can make informed decisions about their subjects, interests and future pathways. I am not suggesting that schools should promote coaching institutes or allow commercial organizations unrestricted access to students. Schools should, in fact, maintain appropriate standards and exercise discretion about whom they invite. But there is a significant difference between promoting a coaching institution and providing students access to genuine career information. Schools could create a structured Career Guidance Hour or Career Awareness Programme, perhaps once or twice a month, and invite different credible professionals, universities, counsellors and specialized institutions to speak to students. The objective should not be to sell a course. It should be to expose students to possibilities, explain career pathways, answer questions and help them understand what lies beyond school. Such a programme could also be deliberately diverse. One month students could hear about careers in law, another month management, another about liberal arts or commerce, another about international education, entrepreneurship, emerging careers or professional qualifications. This would give students exposure to a much wider world than what they encounter through their regular curriculum. There is also a larger question that schools need to ask themselves: Are we educating children merely to perform well in school, or are we preparing them to succeed in life? A school’s rank-holders and examination results are certainly important, but they should not become the sole measure of educational success. A school should take pride not only in the students who achieve the highest marks, but also in how well it helps every student discover their strengths, understand their options and make informed decisions about their future. As someone who works in this space, I strongly believe that career guidance is not a distraction from education. It is an important part of education. Schools build the academic and personal foundation of a child. They should also help students understand where that foundation can take them. The ultimate responsibility of a school should not simply be to produce successful school-leavers, but to help young people become informed, confident and purposeful adults. Arthi Karan Director - StratEdge Academy