KOCHI: There comes a time in the life of every student when he/she has to decide on his/her career path. However, students are unaware of the need to find the right career path and end up choosing the wrong one. It’s where the role of a career guidance programme comes into play.
Generally, career guidance or counselling facilities available in the country today are expensive. But 'vLEAD', an edu-tech startup, has come up with a perfect solution. According to Muhammed Ammachandy, chairman and managing director of vLEAD Eduventures, their planned products and services come under five broad categories – next-gen learning activities, strategic execution for educational projects, career planning and development, quality assessment and educational intelligence.
“vLEAD Eduventures is a team of experts with experiences and insights gained from working in multifarious domains and top-notch research facilities across the globe. The academic background of our team members includes reputed universities like IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), Technical University of Munich, Technical University of Darmstadt, National University of Singapore, Delhi University and the University of Hyderabad,” he said.
While Ammachandy was at IIT Kharagpur, a lot of discussions used to take place between him and like-minded students. “We used to hold long deliberations on the need to improve the quality of education in the country. Instead of being led into choosing a career based on the latest trend, students need to be helped to choose it as per their aptitude,” he said.
However, the group disbanded after completing their course. “After trying for Civil Services and working with an NGO as their CEO, I thought why not bring in all the friends back together and launch a startup,” he said. They regrouped and launched vLEAD in August 2017.After coming to realise that tests like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and MAPP Career Assessment Test, offered by counselling centres all over the country, are suitable only in the Western environment, vLEAD developed LCAT.
“LCAT is a state-of-the-art analytics-driven online career assessment tool that helps a person to discover his or her right career path. The tool was developed after extensive research. It uses the most advanced scientific tools like machine learning and artificial intelligence,” he said.
It is a career assessment test that has been developed based on the Indian cultural context and is offered in regional languages. “Also, it comes cheap at Rs 750 as against the amount charged by others. If a student is unable to even pay Rs 750, a tab has been made available on our website that enables a student to appear for the test free of cost. The only thing they have to do is present a letter from the head of their institution,” he said.
Since its launch in May, more than 500 students have appeared for the LCAT. “vLEAD Eduventures has also formulated a year-long career and academic development programme for students in Classes VIII to XII, which is named as LCAT Career Development Program. You can explore more about LCAT at www.lcat.in,” he added.