IM project Counseling under DoEducation

The counselling office is based in Mundgod which is few km from Yellapur. The counselling cell is reaching out to all the schools in the 5 Tibetan Settlements in Karnataka state.

Mr. Jamyang Wangyal, the Counsellor

-  Our first visit was to the counseling cell to meet with Mr. Jamyang Wangyal, the counsellor and his assistant Miss Tsundue. They came back after conducting a counselling program in Bangalore. It was interesting to know and see how the counseling works and read the feedback of the students at the school and college level.

-        A decade back, when we were in school, there were no counselling or a guidance cell where we could go and share our concerns about courses  and the scope. We went along with our guts, many following their friend’s  and not many in the professional arena except for the Nursing course. 
 


                                                                                                                         It became a trend few years back with flock of students opting for  Nursing especially  general nursing and is still a trend amongst Tibetan girls who either wishes to settle abroad or thinking it has a better job prospect. Now it’s a totally different scenario in the school surrounding where you will find different scholarships available for students on the notice board and information on professional course and having a permanent teacher counsellor in the school. These information were inaccessible during our school days. I have never ever seen such information displayed on the notice board nor heard it during Assembly. 

-        From 2012, the counselling project under the DoEducation, CTA which is funded IM will focus in the central part of India where there are 3 Tibetan settlements- Bandra, Mainpat and Odisha. When asked about the counselor’s views on the new project application, he told us that the counseling in the present schools should not be phased out or discontinued as these are the biggest Tibetan settlements comprising of majority of children in the higher secondary classes. He said he has no idea of any new plans of DoEducation from 2012 and expressed his wish to have more staff deployed in the south zone as the office remains closed during his visit to different schools and colleges leaving school children inaccessible to the counseling cell.

-        We were surprised to know that not all the information is shared with the counselor as to the future plans of DoEducation which we all felt necessary because he is one of the main person in the southern region where Tibetans are in majority, students pursuing in the higher secondary classes are many. Not enough communication or exchange of ideas or suggestion seems to be taking place between the PO (DoEducation) and the field office. The word I stressed would be - not enough “Transparency” and “Participation”. The field office chalks out the activity plan and acts accordingly. 

Tsering Youdon

Fair Trade Coordinator