New Delhi: If a student has good verbal abilities, she or he can opt for a career in journalism, teaching, advertising or law. For someone who loves working with numbers, architecture, banking or engineering would be an appropriate choice of profession.
This and much more will be decided through an aptitude test called ‘Tamanna’ launched by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for students of classes 11 and 12. The test will help students shortlist career options after passing their board exams.
Launched Tuesday, the aptitude test has been developed by the board in association with the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). It has already been sent to all CBSE-affiliated schools.
The board has, however, clarified that the test is voluntary. It also added that the purpose of the exam is to only assess students’ strengths, not to pass or fail them. CBSE has already sent a set of guidelines on ways to evaluate students on various parameters.
“Students, teachers and parents must keep in mind that the aptitude test provides information related to the strengths of students and there is no pass or fail in this test. The test should be taken voluntarily by interested students and must not be used to impose any subject etc on the students,” a note sent to all schools by the CBSE read.
Also read: Kendriya Vidyalaya students could soon be wearing Khadi uniforms
Skill-sets and career options
The CBSE manual states if a student has good “Language Aptitude – ability to use and understand written language, they can pursue a career in writing, teaching, journalism, advertising, law, library science, stenography, business development, travel and tourism, etc”.
Similarly, for someone with good logical and analytical abilities, course or occupations surrounding mathematics, computer programming, architecture, law, medicine, economics, mechanics, forensic science and others would be suitable.
The CBSE has further said that a student can pursue professions in psychology, speech therapy, auctioneering, advertising, linguistics, business, law and education if she or he has the ability to understand and reason using concepts expressed in words as well as the ability to understand and apply mechanical concepts to solve problems.
Numerical aptitude or the ability to do mathematical operations quickly is relevant for all types of engineering, architectural, oceanography, geology, meteorology, biosciences, health sciences, statistics, natural sciences and banking-related career choices.
Spatial aptitude or the ability to quickly judge how an object would look like when constructed in a certain way is relevant for the manufacturing industry, drafting, designing, architecture, astronomy, chemist, visual arts, animation, multimedia art, etc.
Perceptual aptitude, which is the ability to accurately and meaningfully compare visual information, i.e. letters, numbers, objects, pictures or patterns is relevant for the job of a bank-teller, accountant, computer programmer, detective as well as in data entry, assembly work, record keeping, dispatching and filing etc.
Also read: Amitabh Bachchan for poetry, flute for physics: How CBSE schools are making lessons fun
Teachers applaud move
The question paper will test students on various parametres to accurately assess their strengths and limitations.
“On the basis of scores in the test, students can get an idea about their interests, strengths and weaknesses. It will help them decide on a career path,” said a CBSE official.
Academics and teachers have applauded the idea, saying the move will benefit students.
Kalpana Chaudhary, a senior faculty member at a private school in Raipur, said, “CBSE has just started this practice but we, in our school have had the practice of getting students tested for their aptitude or quite some time now. It helps students get an idea about their interests and strengths. It will actually help them chose a career path.”
Similarly, Rakesh Dewaskar, principal at a private school in Bhopal, said, “These days there are so many career options that students are often confused about what to pursue. An aptitude test like this one will definitely help students.”
Dewaskar added that the test should have been introduced for classes 9 and 10 instead of 11 and 12, so that it could help students decide on the subject they want to pursue after high school.
Also read: NCERT will adopt govt schools across India to improve quality of education