Girl Up Club – Future Pathways

Representatives of Girl Up Club organised and launched a ‘Future Pathways’ session in the Government School ‘Anjanadri High School’, to educate Grade 10 students about potential prospects for their future careers. The TISB College Counselling department was part of the initiative to give support and assist the Girl Up Club’s content development. We managed to get in touch with Ashna and Arya from Grade 11, and Anushka from Grade 10 to learn more about what they carried out, how come they did the effort and what they hope for the future.  

We really appreciate their help with developing the content and their support on the day – Ashna, Grade 11  

Aware of both gender inequality and their own education privileges, members of the Girl Up Club decided to offer the Anjanadri High School the ‘Future Pathways’. The event was college and career counselling, assisted by the expertise of TISB’s College Counselling Department. “We are so privileged to have access to an incredible College Counselling Department at school so we can make informed decisions about our futures”, says Ashna, who is aware of how students in government schools are not as privileged. Their event introduced skill development, science, humanities, commerce, arts and financial aid. “The sessions were very engaging, and the excitement with which students asked questions was very heartening to see”, explains Ashna.  

The name ‘Future Pathways’ represents all the options which students have after completing their schools, and the Girl Up team chose Anjanadri High School because the children were eager learners. “They have bright futures ahead of them as shown by the SSLC results coming out of the school every year”, explains Arya, who feel that the school’s faculty are both welcoming, as well as eager to hear about the initiative and worked with them to ensure it to be successful. “With the help of the TISB College Counselling Department, we were able to formulate a plan to execute in schools”, says Arya, and highlights how important it was to be contributed to by the College Counselling Department.  

Many of the students reacted in an astonished way. “The thing that shocked them most was the fact that we were their age yet we're planning so far ahead when it came to our careers”, says Anush, explaining how this inspired many of the other students to start planning on their own. Anush declares how it affects the girls’ awareness and ambitions: “Looking at it through the lens of the girls also really helped as many of them had before only felt restricted to jobs like nurse and singer but now began exploring jobs like engineer and electrician, typically male dominated jobs, further.” 

As a result of the Girl Up’s project, the team cannot wait to expand it and hold more sessions in other government schools across Bangalore. “In order to reach a larger audience, we also want to record and publish our presentations in both English and Kannada so that students from all across the country can access them”, explains Ashna, who would like to offer a framework for other clubs or groups wanting to provide college counselling to others.