UP Plans Monthly School Career Sessions Led by Young IAS, IPS and IFS Officers

Uttar Pradesh has directed district administrations to arrange monthly visits by young IAS, IPS and IFS officers to intermediate-level schools, creating a statewide career-guidance programme for senior students. The plan was set out in directions reported on 8 August and requires every participating officer to visit at least one school each month.

The sessions are intended to cover career choices, competitive examinations, higher and technical education, employment, entrepreneurship and start-ups. They will also include study methods, time management, communication, financial literacy, cyber security, stress management, de-addiction and confidence building.

Additional Chief Secretary for Secondary Education Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma has asked officials to monitor implementation. District inspectors of schools will coordinate between officers and institutions, while district administrations must prepare a monthly calendar. Divisional commissioners are expected to review the programme periodically.

The reporting requirement is unusually specific. By the fifth of each month, districts are to send the Secondary Education Department an account of the previous month’s visits, the schools and officers involved, subjects discussed and suggestions received from students. That administrative trail should make it possible to distinguish regular sessions from one-off ceremonial appearances.

For students, the most useful part of the design is the instruction to favour conversation and question-and-answer sessions over formal speeches. Guidance on UPSC, UPPSC, UPSSSC, NDA, JEE, NEET, CUET and other examinations can help pupils understand routes that may otherwise appear remote. Yet examination advice should not crowd out the wider range of options promised in the order, including vocational study, entrepreneurship and local employment.

The programme could be especially valuable in schools without trained counsellors. A serving officer can explain public-service careers, selection processes and the habits needed for long preparation. But a monthly visitor cannot replace professional, continuing counselling. Officers will need age-appropriate briefing material, current admission information and a clear rule against presenting one prestigious career as the default measure of success.

Schools will also have to make participation equitable. Students who are quieter, studying in Hindi or regional languages, living with disabilities or uncertain about conventional academic routes should have the same opportunity to ask questions. Anonymous question slips, small-group discussions and follow-up resource sheets would make the sessions more useful than a large assembly alone.

The initiative follows a state review of youth policy on 6 August, when the government called for stronger work on education, skills, employment, digital empowerment and emerging technologies. It has also discussed expanding the Chief Minister Abhyudaya Coaching Scheme and developing an integrated platform for career guidance, scholarships and job matching. Those broader proposals are separate from the school-visit direction and will require their own implementation decisions.

Parents should not read the announcement as a guarantee of coaching, placement or admission. It is a mentoring and information programme. Its success will depend on the quality of the monthly calendars, the preparation of visiting officers and whether student questions produce useful follow-up rather than disappearing into reports.

If the department publishes district-level participation data and gathers student feedback, the scheme could become a practical bridge between government schools and opportunities beyond Class 12. Without that follow-through, it risks becoming another well-intended visit whose value ends when the guest leaves the campus.