Delhi's Desh ke Mentor will connect school students with university grad mentors for career counselling

To ensure that students from Class 9 to 12 get the right guidance for their careers, the Delhi government on Monday launched a mentorship programme called Desh ke Mentor that will act as a guiding force for the teenagers to help them clear all their doubts regarding their field of choice with the help of a mentor.

"Children from Classes 9 to 12 are at a critical juncture of their lives. During this time all they need is someone who can guide them, understand their dreams and have faith in them. They need hand-holding and must not be burdened by the dreams and baggage of others. We have launched this programme with the same objective in mind," Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said while launching the programme on October 11.

For this programme, the Delhi Technological University (DTU) has developed an application through which any adult who wishes to mentor children can register themselves and guide the students over phone every week.

According to the Delhi government, the mentors should be less than 35 years old and graduates from a good university. That person could be a young professional or entrepreneur or doing something good in the field of sports, writing, singing and arts. They can adopt one to ten Delhi government school students for mentoring.

"People cannot believe that happiness, patriotism and entrepreneurship can be taught at school level. Our Happiness curriculum will prepare thoughtful adults, the 'Deshbhakti' curriculum will give us good citizens and 'Entrepreneurship Mindset' curriculum will make job providers instead of job seekers."

"This new programme will provide an opportunity for the adults of this country to help the future of the country - our children. All you need to do is devote 10-15 minutes of your busy schedule to guide school children. We are certain that our children can do anything if they are guided well," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.