By Hira Nafees Shah

Anxiously, tenth grader Faiza Maqsood walked in to the room and took a seat across from a Sargodha university student. Although Faiza’s classmates had reassured her, the idea of sitting next to a complete stranger to discuss her career prospects was nerve-wracking.

“The team asked us questions and we gave answers,” explained Faiza. “They basically counselled us about what our future plans should be and how many marks I should get to enter a specific field.”

Faiza was just one of nearly a thousand students in grades eight to ten who participated in career-counseling workshops conducted by psychology students from the University of Sargodha. The project, dubbed “Mashal-e-Rah” was led by Global UGrad Alumna Maryam Gul, who helped arrange the career counselling workshops in twelve low-income schools of Sargodha through an Alumni Small Grant from the Pakistan-U.S Alumni Network. All alumni of various U.S sponsored exchange programs in Pakistan can apply for the grant to enable them to give back to their communities.

Maryam’s objective in developing this project was simple: “I wanted to get rid of the philosophy that students can only be doctors or engineers,” she said. “I also wanted to serve humanity and make my career [more] human-oriented.”

A Sargodha teacher echoed Maryam’s beliefs, noting that students in Sargodha, and Pakistan in general, often only study the subjects that their parents wanted them to. This trend is even more common in public schools.

Assessing Interest through Psychology

Mashal-e-Rah kicked off with a confidence boosting session to make the students feel comfortable.

Then, the university students administered the RIASEC test which measures students’ career interests by determining their personality “type”: Realistic (Doers), Investigative (Thinkers), Artistic (Creators), Social (Helpers), Enterprising (Persuaders), and Conventional (Organizers). After the assessment, students were provided a list of relevant careers they could excel in along with information on over 300 different fields of education.

During the event, the organizers gave prizes to high-achieving pupils from the area to encourage them in their educational pursuits. There was also a Skype session with U.S Consulate Lahore’s Public Affairs Officer Rachael Chen who praised Gul and her team for carrying out the initiative.

“The organizers came and encouraged our students,” said Qamar-un-Nisa, a teacher at Government Girls High School. “Even we didn’t know that our students could speak so well. Kids have talent and just need to be groomed this way.”

Now, many students are happily looking forward to the future. “Maryam and her team told us that we should continue studying and not be afraid or hesitant,” said Ujala Habib, a ninth grade student at Bright Model School.

The closing ceremony of the project was a successful affair with the students, teachers and principals of most of the participating schools in attendance including the DCO Education of Sargodha.

Reviews and Future News

Overall, Mashal-e-Rah received positive reviews from students, teachers, and school administrators.

“The project was very useful for finding out the hidden potential of the students,” said Kanwal Hassan, the Principal of Harvard School.

Many students especially appreciated learning more about the required marks needed to earn a higher degree in a particular subject. Some students offered suggestions for future programs and requested follow-on sessions to further-promote the concept.

“I think there should be a follow-up program in which they should train one or two of the teachers,” said Saad Hassan, an eighth grade student at The Harvard School. “The school should form a partnership with them, so that they can continue to give guidelines to the students.”

UGrad Alumna Maryam Gul feels that the success of her Alumni Small Grant project is owed to her exchange experience.

“If I hadn’t gone to the U.S, I would not have been able to initiate this project,” said Maryam. “Thank you to the U.S for changing my life and now I am able to achieve my dreams.”

As far as sustainability of the venture is concerned, the alumna happily reports that there are plans to replicate her project in the KP/FATA and Jamshoro chapters of the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network, thereby paving the way for benefiting the student body in these places.

To find out more about ‘Mashal-e-Rah’, take a look at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/MeRsgd?fref=ts