School leavers should receive career counselling, says CHOICES manager
THE number of teenagers who are leaving high schools without career counselling has caught the attention of Angela deFreitas, general manager of CHOICES Magazine, who believes that with more career counselling in schools, students will be better able to choose the right path.
She was speaking at the launch of the seventh annual CHOICES Career and Education Expo held Monday at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, as she sought to explain how the upcoming expositions on June 5 at the Hilton and on June 7 at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, will bridge the gap by giving students and other visitors vital information in this subject area.
“The vast majority of our young people are leaving our secondary institutions without having had the benefit of sitting down with someone to discuss their future, their plans, and their ambitions … and not only that, but how they are going to put those plans in place and bring them to life,” deFreitas said.
Linking this to the number of what she termed “under-educated” and unemployed youth, she recognised that counsellors have “a mammoth task facing them within the school system with the variety of problems affecting our children”.
“Career counselling, as important as it is to the future success of these young people, naturally has to take a back seat when students are bringing guns into school, and teenage girls are becoming pregnant,” she added.
This year’s Kingston seminar is themed ‘Finding Direction’. It will be presented by Dr Leachim Semaj and Marcia Hamilton. The Mandeville seminar will be staged for teens under the theme ‘Reach For The Stars’ and will be presented by Dr Kingsley ‘Ragashanti’ Stewart.
“We are convinced that individuals who make the right career decision make happy employees, and this in turn fosters greater productivity,” said deFreitas.
The expo seeks to expose teenagers and young adults to the various career choices surrounding them, and pinpoint all educational opportunities that will prepare them for the workforce.
CHOICES is a company which provides career and education information through its quarterly publication, CHOICES Career & Education Magazine, its website – www.choicesonlinejm.com – and school visits.
