I had the honour to attend a stupendous event held in Pune on 26th June 2022. Ignite Meraki, organized by Ignite India, witnessed great success with over 300 students and 28 schools participating.
Ignite India: Education for all is a leading educational service provider, nurturing and preparing students to pursue careers in the fields of Architecture, Design, Fashion, Fine Arts, Interiors, Law, Hotel Management and many other new-age careers.
Often these fields do not get much attention in the regular school curriculum and consequently, there is a lack of awareness amongst the youth regarding new-age careers. Under such circumstances, events like Ignite Meraki provide a window for students to look past traditional courses and career choices.
At Ignite Meraki, not only did the students gain awareness about careers in Design (which is more than Fashion and Interior Design), but they also participated in many activities to showcase their skills and talent. It also provided a great platform for educationists and academicians to come together and exchange ideas. The panel of eminent speakers from different walks of life, such as Dr Pratik Rajan Mungekar and Dr Shekhar Bhaskar presented live examples of successful non-conventional career choices. Dr Mungekar is a multi-faceted, internationally renowned academician, author, counsellor and trained musician. He is also one of the brains behind of the world’s biggest online university, IIU.
Dr Shekhar Bhasker is a well-respected author and activist with an interest in policy-making.
While enthusiastic participation by students, institutes, educationists and leading members of the society made the event highly relevant and successful, greater involvement and participation of parents would have been greatly welcome.
In our country, where parents are still the main influencers and decision-makers for their children’s academic and career choices, the real buy-in to new-age careers has to be with the parents. Something as big as a career choice has to be a joint decision and there has to be active participation from all the stakeholders. Parents also need to be made aware of the varied career choices available to students outside STEM careers. Eduthon is striving to bridge this gap by creating awareness about education that lies beyond the syllabus.
To empower the next generation, everyone must come together and pool their skills and expertise. The sky is the limit for our children if their talent is nurtured in the right manner and we support them unconditionally in the pursuit of their dreams.
Events like Ignite Meraki are a great starting point in this direction. More power to Nidhi Bhandare of Ignite India, Saravjeet Kirad and Bhawana Gupta of Eduthon and Prachetan Potdar of Stay Featured to have organized and promoted this event. I hope there will be many more to follow.
The need of the hour is to break from the convention and create an ecosystem that fosters and encourages creativity, innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. The sooner we start, the better it will be for future generations.
For more guidance and information on new-age parenting, you can get in touch with me on 7798307094 or write to me at jaspriya@mindscapes.co.in. Parenting is an ever-evolving role and getting a little help to deal with all the new responsibilities that keep getting added goes a long way in raising well-rounded, happy and successful children.