Vijay Garg
Level of education in our country is increasing day by day and competition is increasing as well. These days everyone wants to have the best career and are willing to work extra hard for the success. The examinations of 10th class are an important point in the life of a student in our country and a lot of his future course depends on his performance as well as his decisions made at this point of time. Any students after the completion of class 10 board exams are always worried about which stream to choose in Pre-University Education i.e. to join class 11. Once you complete in your 10th class, it is the right time to think about your career, because at this point of your education you are supposed to choose the stream like M.P.C, B.P.C, M.E.C, and Arts, but it is important to know the opportunities and options you will have after pursuing any of the above. It is very important that before you make an important decision of your career, you have analyzed all the available options.
Making a decision about your career is not an easy thing to do; most of the students completing their 10th standard are confused about deciding a right career path. There is a lot of external pressure and expectations also that add on to this confusion. Selecting the right course after class 10th is not an easy task. Your whole life ahead, as well as your career, depends on your decision, for a successful career, careful planning and following it up with a workable plan is needed. Before making any move, it is important to know about all the resources and opportunities and decide well according to your capabilities. Career exploration, knowledge about one’s own self, decision-making ability, future goals are some among the essential elements needed for a successful career planning. You need the help of your parents, siblings, friends, and teachers who could help you out in deciding your action, for deciding a potential career; one can also attend educational fairs, career guidance seminars that allow you to get in touch with several institutes and courses.
Choosing a career path is one of the most important decisions of anyone’s life and whole future is dependent on this particular decision. Which choosing the right career path, it should be kept in mind that the career path should be decided solely on the interest of the candidate and the parents should not force them to take up courses of their choice instead motivate them to follow their actual interest. The decision should not be influenced by parent’s occupation, parent’s interest, parent’s aspiration, job opportunity, family standards, family business, student’s score in a particular subject, or anything else. It is important for the parents or guardians to understand the interest of their children in terms of their future goal, role model, whatever they like and it would be better if according they suggest their child by providing various options to reach that goal. If children do whatever they like or have interest in, they tend to give in their 100% effort to achieve success.
At the same time, it is also the duty of the parents and elder siblings to make the candidate aware of other possible opportunities, pros and cons, other various factors. At the same time, it is also important that they should not influence the candidate to go in a particular direction where they want him to go, that would be unfair. It is the duty of each and every parent to empower their child to make a decision best for their child and at the same time should also not enforce them to a certain stream. Both the student and the parents must think from the long-term perspective rather short-term or easier career path. To obtain a strong foundation for further studies like graduation and post-graduation, a good option after 10th is studying +2 or PUC. The selection of the streams in +2 depends upon the student’s aptitude, grade and marks. But the most important factor is one's keen interest in the subject and the purpose for selecting the course. The main or popular streams available after the 10th level are:
Science Stream with Non-medical (PCM)
Science Stream with Medical (PCB)
Commerce Stream
Arts or Humanities Stream
Science Stream with Non-medical (PCM)
Once you complete your 10th class, you have to make a choice of subjects for your higher studies. For those students who are interested in engineering or non-medical line can opt for science subjects with PCM (physics, chemistry and mathematics) as their major subjects and 2 other subjects of their choice. It is important to note that if you are a hard working person and you really have an interest in technical line then only you should pick up these subjects. These days a lot of parents are forcing their children into the non-medical stream and doing engineering these days has become a fashion and everyone seems to be joining this bandwagon without analyzing their capabilities. A lot of parents are forcing their children into engineering thinking that engineering would be the best career option for them, but there are other career options also that provides an opportunity for equal respect and equally satisfying career as engineering. It is more important to analyze your capabilities and act accordingly, rather than following a bunch of like-minded people.
Science Stream with Medical (PCB)
The medical stream provides an excellent opportunity for those who are really interested in life-sciences, have a great inner quality of helping others as well as those who are really motivated about discovering something new for human life. Science stream with major subjects as PCB (physics, chemistry and biology) gives an opportunity for those interested in the medical field. This field requires a lot of sincerity and hard work. There is no escape for hard work in this line. After taking PCB for your 11th and 12th you can appear for various competitive exams and choose from a lot of courses on the basis of your interest and percentage. At graduation level, you can opt for MBBS, BDS, nursing, a course in biotechnology, veterinary studies, forensic sciences as well as other courses related to the human body as well as human surroundings. Study about the human body can be very interesting but at times can get really tough. In this field, there is no chance of even smallest error, as herein medical field your small mistake can be fatal for someone. So in this field, you need to be extra cautious and only people with a great sense of ability only get successful in this field.
Commerce Stream
Commerce stream offers another lucrative career option for those having interest in mathematics and calculations. Some of the popular graduate courses offered through the commerce stream are B.Com, BBA, BMS, BBM, CFA, CA, ICWA, CFP etc. Mostly major commerce colleges offer subjects such as Business economics, financial accounting, Business Communication, Marketing, Business Law, Business Finance, Auditing, Cost accounting, Income tax from which students have to choose their subject of interest. A student has to take a total of six subjects along with English and one additional subject during their 11th and 12th standard. Commerce stream is for those interested in business studies as well as for those having a lot of interesting into accounting and offers a good career with some really lucrative pay packages. Students who are interested to pursue a career in Banking, Insurance, Stock Broking or any other finance-related jobs may choose the economics stream. There are lots of opportunities in India in this field due to the economic liberation and growth.
Arts or Humanities Stream
A lot of students after completing their 10th opt for the arts stream. Arts stream has a wide variety of subjects which can offer exciting career opportunities for the students. Selection of Arts stream after 10th examination enables to pave the way for choosing some gripping careers other than engineering or medical studies. This stream offers subject History, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, English, Hindi and Sanskrit for the higher secondary level. But one has to opt for four compulsory subjects in addition to English and a Modern Indian Language. If anyone has the interest to pursue a career in mass media, journalism, literature, sociology, social service, human psychology, politics, economics, and history then you must choose Arts stream after passing the 10th examination. It is just not enough that you are creative, it is also required that you should love competition because creative fields involve lots of competition and pressure to meet deadlines that means it involves lots of hard work. You can select subjects of your choice and those having a keen interest in the language or literature can choose the language of their choice. Arts stream provides a career option for the creative people who want to make a career in the field of arts and culture.
Some other Career Opportunities and Job Prospects after 10th Class
Those discussed above were a few popular options for those who wish to study further and carve out a career for them. There are also few candidates who are not interested in the studying part and are more interested in some professional job oriented course or simply want a job by clearing competitive examinations. There can be different reasons for such behaviors. At times there are students who do not belong to a high-class family and supporting their education is not possible for their family, on the other hand, there are also those who are not interested in studying further and just think that completing 10th was enough for them. For such candidates a few options can be:
Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Industrial Training Centers (ITCs): ITIs and ITCs provide professional training in various job oriented courses and make candidates suitable to perform a particular job like cutting hair, operating machine, stitching, and embroidery etc. Constituted under the Ministry of Labour, Union Government of India, Government-run ITIs, and privately-run ITCs are training organizations which provide training in the technical field as well as other job oriented courses. ITI courses are designed to impart basic skills needed for a specified trade like electrician, machinist, fitter, plumber, turner, welder etc. and depending upon trade, the duration, of course, may vary from one year to three years. After passing the course a person may opt to undergo practical training in his trade in an industry. A National Trade Certificate (NTC) is provided by NCVT (National Council for Vocational training) in the concerned trade and to obtain this certificate one has to qualify the All India Trade Test (AITT). These people can find job openings in government sectors like Indian Railways, telecom departments etc. after qualifying a written examination. Also, those passing out successfully from it is can easily get the job in different industries as well.
Indian Army: Indian Army also provides an opportunity for the candidates to join in with the army after completing the matriculation. Though there are different entry levels for the candidates to enter army it is also possible that after matriculation, one can join in Indian Army to the posts of soldiers in technical trade through written exams like Indian Army Soldier Clerks Examination, Indian Army Soldier General Duty (N.E.R.) Examination, Indian Army Soldier Technical (M.E.R.) Examination, Indian Army Soldier Nursing Assistants (M.E.R.) Examination etc. on successfully clearing the examination candidates are required to undergo compulsory training and upon successful completion, candidates join in at their respective ranks.
Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Exam: Staff Selection Commission every year advertises its various posts for which eligibility starts from matriculation. A lot of posts like those of clerks require the only matriculation as the minimum qualification and candidate’s right after completing their 10th can apply for these positions. Upon successfully clearing the written examination, the candidates can join in at the various selected posts. Just like SSC, CRPF also advertises the posts of constable for those who want to join police force right after completing their 10th standard.
—The Hawk Features