Redefining Educating Through Universally Reachable Network, or Project Return, is redefining India's education. We explored the scheme.
In this article, we will get a closer look at Redefining Educating Through Universally Reachable Network- Project R.E.T.U.R.N, and their work in creating a world where every line-of-work is cherished.
This initiative aims to create a Universally Reachable Network, which guides and mentors individuals in realising professional dreams.
“With this project we are making the communities aware about the diverse career paths out there, through career crafting workshops.”, initially says Sharath Koona, Co-Founder, Strategies and Partnerships.
Speaking to Youth Time contributor, he shares more regarding their role in improving communities in India also by developing an online platform which generates optimised career paths for the dreamers by not only listing out all the steps to one’s dream career, but also by providing with the minute details like skills/certifications required to ascend those steps.
A Great Kick Start of the Project
Looking back, he recalls their successful first career crafting workshop in association with St. Joseph’s convent High school, Adilabad in July 2019.
“While this workshop acted as a platform for both students and parents to open a dialogue regarding career planning.
“We had 290+ participants attend the event which included 140 students 130 parents 20+ teachers and others.”
Great numbers do not end here. Its social media outreach was 20,000+ footprint across multiple platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
“This workshop not only gave us the opportunity to kick start our project but also gave 30 passionate dreamers, who are mentored and nurtured through project R.E.T.U.R.N club activities,” he adds.
Clubs Changing Students for Better
Koona explains that they also connect the dreamer to a mentor/s who is/are already expert in the dreamer’s field of interest.
“In this way that the dreamer gets the in-depth and real-time understanding of the industry and makes him or her ready to rock in their dream job.”
In addition, the student’s community is core to their project, and in his words, for centuries, education was mostly a monologue.
“It was only about what we want to teach. With project R.E.T.U.R.N we would like to redefine this by giving voice to the pupils at Project R.E.T.U.R.N clubs.
“These clubs give students a platform where they can post, list and record their passions and problems while learning about the required life skills and life lessons from the experts.”
These club activities are acting as catalysts to change the student’s perspective towards the professions out there and helping them to make an informed choice about their career rather than a forced choice by parents or relatives.
Obstacles Faced by India’s Youth
Speaking in broader terms regarding some of the biggest shortcoming faced by youth in India, Koona believes that India’s future stems from the dreams of its citizens.
“Unfortunately for many of them these dreams are diverted towards the quest of earning a livelihood through a white collared job.
“Today most Indian parents believe in focusing on the academics to provide economic security, giving minute space to diversity.”
As per his opinion, this resulted in:
- 97% of engineers in India, cannot speak English,
- Less than 20% are employable for jobs,
- 93 % MBA graduates are unemployable.
[Please click HERE for the source].
Hence, he believes there is a need to address this, as there are about 0.7 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 35 – the largest youth population ever.
“Currently 10.8 million adults are unemployed. A major potential manpower of India lying unused for building our nation.”
An Online Platform Benefiting Youth
Undoubtedly, among the most important initiatives will be the development of the online platform we explained in the beginning of this piece.
On this, Koona adds this platform, planned to be launched in mid-2022, will help young people increase their capacities and broaden their job opportunities.
“Currently we are building a database to register the career paths available out there. Once we have a substantial amount of data, we shall roll it out in the form of an online platform.”
This platform once launched, it will act as a dedicated and distraction free career guidance tool, a place to store and view milestones, feedback and a trusted platform for institutions, parents and students in realising professional dreams.
Youth Time will keep you posted once the platform is launched!
Until then, follow Project R.E.T.U.R.N in their social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Another inspirational story from India’s neighbour, Bangladesh:
Couple Goals: Entrepreneur Success in Pirojpur District, Bangladesh
Support us!
All your donations will be used to pay the magazine’s journalists and to support the ongoing costs of maintaining the site.
Share this post
Interested in co-operating with us?
We are open to co-operation from writers and businesses alike. You can reach us on our email at [email protected]/[email protected] and we will get back to you as quick as we can.
