CLEEN Foundation re-enacts culture of career choice

By Emmanuel Elebeke

The absence of counseling and child education on career choice in secondary schools, particularly those of public schools is no longer in doubt. This have not only led the students to make wrong choice of courses to study at the universities but has also contributed in no small measure to the ever- increasing number of unemployable graduates on the streets.

Despite the critical role career counselling play in the life of a child, many schools do not have a guardian and counsellor and where they exist, many of them are still found wanting in the discharge of their duty.

So it was indeed an eye-opener when the Centre for Legal Enforcement Education in Nigeria, CLEEN Foundation, last week organised a forum at Expressway School, in Tolu complex, Ajegunle. It was also an opportunity for the students of the school to ask question and get proper guidelines on how to go about choosing the careers of their choices.

*Cross-section of students listening attentively during the forum

To some of the students, the public lecture was quite timely as it saved them from the usual mistake of making wrong career choices.

Leading a discussion on the topic: “Choosing a Career and Companion” during the interactive forum on youth against crime, a member of Lagos State School Improvement Team, LASSIT, Mr. Jegede Adebowale, charged the students to work towards overcoming the challenge of career choice to enable them preserve their future pursuit as potential leaders of the country.

He said that the task of choosing a career and companion as a child, has become one of the major challenging areas affecting young people in making good career choices, saying that until the youth are properly guided in choosing the career of their choice, their dream of becoming future leaders will not be guaranteed.

Adebowale, who underscored the importance of companion in the life of a young person, said the youth must also be wise and meticulous in choosing a life companion, so as to boost their chances of realising their potentials and goals in life, since a bad companion could constitute a clog in the wheel of their progress.

“For anybody to be able to realise his or her potential and then choose a career, the individual must be manifesting certain peculiar traits, prioritize by identifying the one he has the greatest comparative advantage on, develop upon it through quantitative education and then focus on the peculiar career that will earn you a successful living and also make you a potential leader. The company one keeps or the society he belongs to has a bearing on his career. One should be able to choose studious companion worthy of emulation,” he charged.

Earlier in his opening speech, the Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, represented by the programmer officer, Onyinye Onyemaobi, said the interactive forum was designed to enable the students as youth, teachers, parents and other stakeholders, identify their various roles in equipping and training themselves to become future leaders of Nigeria.