Career Yatra: Build career aspirations and enable successful school-to-work transitions

Why is it that close to 70 million adolescents in India can only survive, not thrive? Why are they told that they cannot have a dream? Why is it that they do not get the same opportunities as their more privileged peers? My organization, Antarang Foundation enables adolescents from the poorest quartile of India to aspire for careers that would help them break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. 

We often hear about young adults from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds making it to aspirational careers. These examples are outliers, as access to careers that promise economic and social mobility is systemically denied to 1/3rd of the population in India.  

More than 70 million youth in India live at or below the poverty line, with little access to healthcare or quality education, thus severely limiting their ability to aspire for a future that enables socio-economic progress. Less than 27% of them actually complete school. Around 30% of them cited economic factors and the inability to cope with education as primary reasons for dropping out of school. High dropout rates lead to unemployment or low-wage employment that perpetuates the intergenerational cycle of poverty. It is this lack of awareness and access to opportunity that perpetuates social and economic inequity that Antarang is solving.

Antarang's CareerYatra is a 4-year seamless intervention that aims to provide intensive career guidance, interactive career exploration, employability skills, and access to skilling and employment opportunities for youth between the age of 14-18 years. We are embedding a career readiness curriculum for students of grades 9 - 12 across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Goa.

 Key components of the intervention include:

1. Career Classes embedded into the school timetable that cover self-awareness, career awareness, career planning, and transition support.
2. Career Facilitators who guide students in Career Classes through career exploration, help them arrive at clear career plans and provide support in filling forms and gaining admission into higher secondary education. 
3. A digital career tracker / the career GPS that will help students navigate their way to careers of their choice. 
4. A career development diagnostic that measures the developing career readiness of high school students
5. WhatsApp career chatbot that enables 24X7 career support and transition support to students

Antarang Foundation envisions to create equity in careers. Every youth despite any socio-economic barrier must receive equality of opportunity to aspire for a career of their choice, receive appropriate guidance, and access to experiential learning opportunities. We have made it our mission to build this holistic ecosystem to enable a 20% increase in GER (Gross enrolment ratio) to higher education and ensuring students successfully transition to career pathways in line with their aspirations.