Jalandhar,January 19: With the aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a mentorship-basedmodel in improving the student engagement and to enhance their motivation,Department of School Education, Punjab in collaboration with Indian School of Business(ISB) under the Jump Start India (JSI) initiative, has launched a three-monthMentorship programme for the Meritorious Schools based in Patiala, Jalandhar,Mohali, Gurdaspur and Amritsar.
Asmany as 500 students of class 12th of Meritorious Schools in the first phaseare participating in the programme. Under this initiative, each meritoriousstudent has been given an ISB student as mentor to motivate, build futurefocused and career related capabilities for the mentees (the person receiving training).Besides, these ISB students who have volunteered as mentors belong to PGP,PGP-PRO, PGP-MAX and AMPPP programmes at ISB.
Asper information from Rajeshwar Upadhyay, Director, Par Excellence, who issupporting this initiative and conducting baseline and final evaluation, saidthat the mentors are engaging with the students over telephonic/zoomconversations to analyse their current state of motivation and the problemsthey have been facing and accordingly converse with them for specified hoursevery week for a three-month period.
However,the performance of the mentees will be evaluated as per their board results aswell as via comprehensive tests designed, he added.
Divulgingmore information on how the mentors and mentee (a person who is advised,trained, or counselled by a mentor), are being assessed in the programme, Dr Aarushi Jain, Associate Director,Bharti Institute of Public Policy at ISB and the Principal Investigator of theRCT, said that the participants are assessed on some basic competencies to besuccessful as the mentees on how to leverage the mentoring relationship forpersonal, intra-personal and career related pursuits; however the mentors areassessed and trained on how to run successful mentoring relationships byleveraging their own experiences, knowledge and nurturing skills.
Shefurther said that this mentoring programme has the power to transform the waytalented and meritocratic students from Punjab to career-ready scholars.
Whenasked about the Jump Start India initiative, Prof. Ashwini Chhatre, ExecutiveDirector, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB who leads the JSI initiativeemphasised that “Indian School of Business has set up JumpStartIndia@ISBinitiative to deploy the faculty expertise and student resources to generatesolutions to the most pressing challenges before the country on its road torecovery”.
Hesaid that students of 12th standard are at a crucial stage in their careers andyet are at high risk of dropping out of the education system altogether, if notengaged in a meaningful way in this critical time. “The Randomized ControlTrial (RCT) being conducted will help in assessing if the model can bereplicated and scaled up to improve the motivation level and performance ofstudents across the state”, he added.
EducationSecretary Krishan Kumar said by starting such programmes, we are trying best tokeep the students engaged so that they don't miss out on key portions of theirsocial and psychological development. Besides, such initiatives also provideexposure to students and prepare them for various competitive exams.
Sharingher experience of the Mentorship programme, Ritu Pushkarna, Principal,Meritorious School, Mohali said, “The program initiated by the ISB for theEducation Department, Punjab will have a long-term impact on the teachinglearning process in MSM Mohali. The students not only learn about careeropportunities, but I am definite it shall improve their communication skills,problem solving techniques, understanding body language, and would help inoverall personality development. It’s my faith that they shall broaden theirvision for future”, she added.
“MyMentor is very good and I learn a lot of things from her. She guides me on howto make my future bright”, says Jashanpreet, Mentee, Meritorious School,Gurdaspur.