Legacy School Bangalore hosted the Bangalore leg of the 2019 IC3 Regional Forum on February 9 to share knowledge with counselors across the city and surrounding regions. The professional development forum was curated for career counselors, teachers and school principals with no registration fee attached, thereby, giving participants a great opportunity to be equipped with knowledge and resources that will help their students make informed decisions.

With over 64 high school delegates, 47 university delegates and 14 organisation delegates across the globe, the event featured nine engaging breakout sessions, planned networking activities, prominent speakers and critical professional development opportunities for counselors and university representatives. The breakout sessions at the forum included:

1. Unraveling magic in schools through the “Counseling Laboratory”
2. Why study a liberal Arts & Sciences curriculum?
3. S. Campuses 101
4. Understanding the diverse Indian high school curricula – CBSE, ISC, state boards
5. Community engagement programmes – transactional to transformative
6. Navigating Tier II and III cities in India
7. Preparing counselors for recommending career based solutions in the wake of new age uncertainties
8. Research skills and inquiry-based learning: game-changing education for innovation and leadership
9. How innovative Indian universities are aspiring to international standards in admissions

Most high schools still focus on the academic areas such as Mathematics, Sciences, Languages, etc. and human resources are typically assigned to these departments in large numbers. The function of career and college counseling, which is as important (if not more) to a student’s development usually does not receive adequate resources or attention. Additionally, it is a highly dynamic field due to constant changes in careers and evolving programme choices. The IC3 movement aims to change this imbalance and enable high schools to help their students make best-fit higher education and career decisions.

Speaking at the conference, Ganesh Kohli, founding president, IC3 Movement and chair, 2019 IC3 Conference said, “Since the launch of the IC3 Movement, we have come a long way in providing resources and training to help develop career and college counseling offices across Karnataka and India. With the growing challenge among students of navigating a plethora of career and college choices, a career and college counseling department at school has become a critical necessity. Our objective is to continue guiding schools so that they have a deeper understanding of student needs and provide appropriate solutions.”

For the first time, the IC3 Regional Forums have been expanded to include a series of 30 one-day regional events in high schools across South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Hosted at local high schools, these one-day events provide an opportunity for learning and new knowledge creation along with networking where counselors, teachers, and principals from the local area interact with universities from across the globe.

Comments Geeta Jayanth, vice principal of Legacy School Bangalore, “We feel privileged to have hosted the IC3 Regional Forum in our school. We strongly support the ideology of the IC3 Movement and commend its contributions to providing guidance to future leaders of educational institutions. This platform dynamically trains and encourages college counselors and leadership groups to help build and shape future leaders in diverse professions for the betterment of the society.”

As part of its mission in training school counselors and high schools, the IC3 Regional Forum registration is free of cost for full-time school counselors, teachers and principals. To register for future IC3 Regional Forums, please visit https://www.ic3regionalforums.com