Isaac Harold Gomes –
Last week, my good friend Joseph Chacko who is a renowned English Teacher-cum-Coordinator of St James School, Kolkata and President Catholic Teachers’ Guild, invited me to attend the Guild’s Career Counselling Programme for Christian students (Classes 9-12) from Kolkata and suburbs. Over 500 students from city schools and from far away schools in Gurap, Pandua and Amtala, turned up for the programme that was held on August 9 from 9 am to 1 pm..
The Guild of lay Catholic Teachers was formed in 2014, and has its offices in the Archbishop’s House, Kolkata. Rev. Moloy D’Costa is its Spiritual Adviser. The venue was Don Bosco School Park Circus Kolkata.
In a packed auditorium, Chief Guest Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta, set the tone for the Counselling Programme with a very uplifting 20-minute speech. He began with Matthew 5:13, where Jesus states, “You are the salt of the earth.” He told the students that as Christ’s followers they must have a positive, preserving, and transformative influence on the world to promote goodness and righteousness. He cited St Teresa of Calcutta as an icon of service and servant-leadership. He exhorted students to emulate her life and to visit the Mother’s tomb for motivation and explained the significance of a well-known quote attributed to Mother Teresa: “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace.”
Archbishop Thomas reminded students to always thank God and their parents who are their first teachers.
In this context he recalled an incident in Siliguri when he was Bishop of Bagdogra. One day a young man approached him, congratulated him for the inauguration of an old age home and said he would keep his old parents there. Bishop Thomas reminded him that the home was only for abandoned aged people, and not for well-settled youths like him having their families.
The Archbishop again reminded the students that they must never forget their parents at the pinnacle of their careers. He also exhorted the youths to always dream (envision what they aspire to be) and then work hard to achieve them.
The practising professionals who made time out for the students out of their very tight schedule were:
1. Medicine: Dr Nicola Flynn (Paediatric Intensivist)
2. Journalism: Ms Althea Philips, Times of India Group Kolkata
3. Multimedia: Rev. Dejus John Retnam (St Xavier’s College, Kolkata)
4. Teaching: Mrs Angela Ghosh (Principal Union Chapel & other schools)
5. Hospitality: Joseph Pradip Rozario
6. Banking: Ms Joanne D’Souza (Branch Manager, State Bank of India)
7. Baking/Culinary Art: Ms Alisha Alexander (Saldanha Bakeries)
8. Armed Forces: Group Captain Joseph Paul Nath (Air Force)
9. IT Sector: Michael Rocha
10. Psychology: Mrs Tanishka Safri (C.E.O. Offbeat Psychology)
11. Music: Peter Gomes (Music Teacher of Don Bosco and has his own band)
12. Law: Ms Zothanpul Varte (Senior Legal Consultant – Calcutta High Court)
13. Sports: Joseph Gomes
The students were taken to separate classrooms according to their choice of sector.
Group Captain Joseph Nath shared his experiences in the Indian Air Force. He said he was very enthused to see that many students were interested in a career in the armed force where he reiterated one doesn’t necessarily have to fight wars. There are many other aspects in this very adventurous profession.
For success in life, he stressed on having a dream and the tenacity (self-motivation) to achieve it.
The Power of Self-motivation:
• Self-motivation is our inner drive to pursue our goals, overcome obstacles and strive for success in life. It’s the fuel that keeps us going in the face of challenges. It’s the ignition key that inspires action when very few are with us.
• External forces of self-motivation are one’s parents, teachers, mentors.
• It has to come from within and with the help of Jesus. It must be ignited by us. We must ask questions of ourselves regarding our dreams, our goals, what we want to become in life.
• One must keep on repeating “I can” and do this day in and day out.
• Self-motivation brings about great transformation. It translates dreams into reality.
• His friend Amarjeet and his Brigadier father inspired him to join the armed forces (Indian Air Force).
• He has taken part in every war including the Kargil War.
Characteristics that imbibe self-motivation:
Determination, Optimism, Initiative, Discipline and Passion.
Ripple Effect of Self-motivation
• It inspires and enhances one’s own life and the lives of immediate family members
• It energises the team and organisations and sparks innovation and creativity
• It motivates future generations to dream big
• It keeps us on course to pursue our passions
• Trust in the Lord increases self-motivation manifold.
• Instead of complaining, one must ask God to help.
• Our parents are our First Teachers.
Some Suggestions:
• In future programmes, the names of field experts should be displayed at the outset on the screen. This will help students make up their minds which expert to consult.
• Video-record of each expert’s inputs/interaction with the students. These valuable inputs then may be archived and shared later with other students who couldn’t turn up.
• Maintain a database of professionals and upgrade it.
• Keep track of the student participants regarding their choice of stream/career and how they are faring.
Fr. Joseph Podimattathil, Principal – Don Bosco Technical Park Circus enlightened all students that there was excellent scope in Technical hands-on education. He said all the students in this department get excellent job offers in the campus. He said offers have come from Germany for high-paying jobs opportunities for Christian technical students in Germany. The employers will sponsor learning of the German language.
Overall, it was an excellent initiative by the Catholic Teachers’ Guild where there is always a scope to raise the bar in keeping two very uplifting songs on `Dream’ by Peter Gomes. Special mention must be made of Fr V.C. George (Principal and Rector of Don Bosco School Park Circus) for being a very gracious host and for his very encouraging words.
Interesting interaction
Very very useful step taken up to guide our young generations to the right path….after completion of education,many of our students, then only they search for job or career.If they aware from the student life they will definitely flowrish in their career and life
Isaac has written a very detailed report on a very beneficial event. I too was a member of the Catholic Teachers’ Guild and recently retired from my teaching post in Frank Anthony Public School. The Guild is doing a wonderful job of making Christian students aware of the various career options open today. The suggestions made at the end of the report are very concrete, especially on archiving of the talks/presentations made by different experts for reference of students who cannot make it to the Career Guidance Programme. This video-recording will be particularly beneficial for rural students, not necessarily English-medium schools.
Isaac told me there were around five students who could didn’t join any of the above 13 groups. They wanted Career Guidance on Chartered Accountancy, Company Secretaryship, Entrepreneurship and Fashion Designing. One of the girl students from Carmel School Amtala comes from a business family (ration & kerosene outlet) and is interested to have expertise not in her family business but her own area of interest with minimal financial investment. She has already been earning money by promoting multifarious products on Social Media! Real women power in the making!!
The inputs by Don Bosco Technical Institute on high possibility of earning handsome salary on completion of the Technical Course was also very interesting and gives an edge over conventional education (graduation, masters, etc).
I would make one more suggestion. Since our students will have to compete in the open, highly-competitive world, it would be best to invite the best available professionals (not necessarily only Christian professionals).
It’s a very good initiative by Catholic Teachers Guild. Such programmes should ideally be held every six months and archived for future telecast/webcast.