IMPACT IN ACTION
From Dreams to Direction: 67 Students Take Their First Steps Towards Future-Ready Careers
Career Readiness & STEM Learning Programme concludes at Shree S. R. Bommai Government High School, Gokul Road, Hubballi
Class 10 students
believe they can achieve their career goal
overall student satisfaction
When ACS Foundation walked into the Class 10 classroom at Shree S. R. Bommai Government High School on Gokul Road, the students already had dreams. Engineer. Doctor. Teacher. Soldier. What most of them did not have was a map.
Before the programme began, fewer than one student in four could explain the education required to reach the career they had named. Barely a third understood the difference between PUC, Diploma and ITI — the three doors that will open, or close, for them within months of their board exams. Only 14.8% knew what coding was.
Fifteen hours of classroom time later, those numbers look very different.
What changed
Delivered over June to August 2026 in partnership with Jabra Connect India Private Limited, the Career Readiness & STEM Learning Programme took students through five stages: knowing themselves, knowing their options, exploring careers, experiencing STEM, and planning their future.
| What students understood | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| The difference between PUC, Diploma and ITI | 34.4% | 95.5% |
| The education required for their chosen career | 23.0% | 98.5% |
| Basic coding concepts | 14.8% | 98.5% |
| Career options available after Class 10 | 73.8% | 98.5% |
| Robotics in everyday life | 83.6% | 98.5% |
| Confidence in achieving their career goal | 85.2% | 100% |
That last row is the one the team keeps coming back to. At the close of the programme, every student assessed said they believed they could achieve their career goal. Not most. All of them.
Taught without a single computer
Coding rose from 14.8% to 98.5% in a school with no computer lab for the sessions. The programme teaches computational thinking "unplugged" — through step-by-step instruction games, sequencing activities and logic puzzles that need nothing more than a floor mat and a set of cards. Artificial Intelligence was explained through the technology students already carry in their pockets and see in their homes.
Sessions were run in plain North Kannada, starting from occupations students already knew — farmer, driver, carpenter, mechanic, nurse, shopkeeper — and building outward to the wider world of work those occupations connect to.
New words for new futures
By the end of the programme students were naming careers that had never come up in their classrooms before: Drone Pilot. Drone Technician. Robotics Technician. App Developer. EV Technician. Digital Content Creator. Roles in Artificial Intelligence, cyber security and data.
Fifty-two of the 67 students said their career goal had changed or evolved over the course of the programme. The point was never to talk students out of their ambitions. It was to make sure that when they chose, they were choosing from everything available to them — not only from what happened to be visible on their street.
Many students were shy and lacked confidence while speaking before taking session, but now students show greater confidence in speaking, presenting their work and expressing their ideas clearly. Earlier students showed little interest in the field of science and technology, whereas they demonstrate greater interest and enthusiasm towards science, technology and practical learning. In my opinion the career guidance session has been fruitful and achieved its objectives.
What students said
Students rated the programme 4.85 to 4.97 out of 5 across every dimension measured — how interesting the sessions were, how clearly concepts were explained, how much the activities helped them learn, and whether they would recommend it to a friend.
Every participating student received a Future Ready Certificate at a ceremony attended by school leadership and the Nodal Officers.
Shree S. R. Bommai Government High School was the first of two schools in this programme. The model proven here went on to be delivered at Government Kannada High School, Pendar Galli, in September 2026.
