Empowering students for change
An educational career is the most important phase of someone’s journey. It is the phase that transforms someone from nothing to something. During this phase, a person learns the complexities of life, both odd and even. From struggles and hardships to uprisings and success, the educational career lays each new brick on the path of life’s journey. Experiences and learnings during this phase last forever. Educational institutes organize various events and provide opportunities for students to learn and experience new things so they can implement these lessons in their future lives. These elements play an important role as they instill new spirits in someone’s journey. Now, let’s discuss some major concepts that educational institutes need to deliver to their students to shape the future generation.
Mentorship Networks
This initiative aims to provide guidance and mentorship to new students voluntarily. Senior and experienced students can offer support in various academic aspects, including academic assistance, personal development, confidentiality, information about campus services, details about extracurricular activities, career guidance, and community engagement. A perfect example of this initiative is the “Ask Me” concept, where seniors volunteer to assist new students.
Community Service
In such initiatives, students come together to volunteer their time and effort to address various needs within their local communities. These efforts include environmental clean-up, food banks, tutoring in underserved communities, elder care, homeless outreach, disaster relief, and animal welfare initiatives. Such initiatives can contribute to personal growth, leadership skills, networking, and civic engagement for students.
Career Counseling
Volunteer career counseling typically involves individuals with experience in various industries or professions offering their insights and advice to those seeking guidance in their careers. This initiative includes services such as career assessment, resume writing, interview preparation, job hunting strategies, and development plans.
Nature Conservation Efforts
These initiatives are designed to make efforts toward nature conservation and spread awareness about the importance of protecting the environment. Activities include tree planting, beach cleanups, trail maintenance, wildlife habitat restoration, and recycling programs. These projects play a crucial role in mitigating environmental degradation, conserving biodiversity, and promoting sustainable practices. Volunteer students can organize such events voluntarily at their institutes to protect and preserve nature and biodiversity while spreading awareness about it.
Disaster Response Measures
In this initiative, students are trained and prepared to provide assistance during natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, or wildfires. They may help with evacuation efforts, distribute supplies, provide first aid, or assist in rebuilding communities affected by disasters. These measures are crucial during times of emergencies and disasters.
Fundraising Initiatives
This concept involves students coming together to support financially disadvantaged students by assisting them in their financial struggles. These initiatives also provide scholarships for students from poor backgrounds. They raise funds within the group or among other students, organize donation events, and conduct fundraising campaigns. Approximately 28 million children in Pakistan are out of school, with poor financial conditions being a major reason. Such initiatives can significantly reduce this large number.
All these activities can bring several benefits not just to the students but also to the nation as a whole. From the students’ perspective, these initiatives benefit in leadership development, social responsibility, and community engagement. From a national perspective, a nation benefits in human capital development, social cohesion, social welfare, economic growth, literacy growth, and environmental sustainability.
The million-dollar question here is how these efforts and concepts can be achieved in Pakistani educational institutions. Well, here are some solutions.
The first and most important step is to incorporate these concepts into the curriculum and make them an essential part of the educational career. Every institute should have a different approach to achieve these important goals. Then, establishing student organizations is necessary to organize collective efforts for these goals. Students can also establish clubs and organizations independently to achieve these goals. Providing training sessions and workshops to the students will be the next step. Each student will be provided with enough knowledge and experience regarding his or her chosen initiative to implement in real life. Collaborations and partnership programs can also provide training and experience to the students to prepare them for tackling challenges and working towards the aimed goals. These efforts are of utmost necessity.
(Ubaid Sahil is a student and writer. He can be reached at ubaidsa9@gmail.com).