Punjab-IIT Madras Career Mentoring: 5,000 Teachers to be Trained for Student Guidance

Dec 6, 2025

Published: Saturday, December 6, 2025

India's education sector witnesses a transformative collaborative initiative addressing a critical gap in career guidance accessibility, with Punjab becoming the first state to implement a comprehensive state-level teacher-led career counselling programme in partnership with one of India's premier technical institutions.

Punjab Launches Historic Career Mentoring Programme with IIT Madras Partnership

Punjab has collaborated with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras to roll out a statewide career guidance programme aimed at equipping teachers as trained career mentors, according to the official announcement made today. This landmark initiative positions Punjab as India's first state implementing a state-level career counselling guidance programme for teachers, marking a significant step toward democratizing career guidance across the state's educational system.

Comprehensive Teacher Training and Curriculum

Over 5,000 teachers will be trained to guide students toward informed, future-ready career choices under the ambitious teacher-upskilling programme, according to Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains. The programme offers teachers free online training in foundational career counselling, skills for conducting classroom sessions, and techniques for one-on-one student guidance.

Trained teachers will gain access to structured resources, including guidance on the top 100 high-demand careers, sophisticated assessment tools for student aptitude evaluation, and a comprehensive guidance framework aligned with emerging national and global career trends. IIT Madras Pravartak will provide continuous academic support and digital resources throughout the programme implementation.

Addressing the Rural Education Divide

The initiative is particularly significant for Punjab's educational ecosystem because it addresses a critical equity gap. According to PSEB Chairperson Amarpal Singh, the programme is expected to particularly benefit students in rural and underserved areas, offering them access to high-quality guidance that was previously limited to private counsellors and urban-based career coaching centres.

"Through this engagement, teachers will serve as the backbone of a structured career guidance ecosystem," Education Minister Bains stated, emphasising the transformative potential of trained teacher mentors. "Our goal with this collaboration is to make a meaningful impact by enabling teachers to serve as effective career mentors in their schools".

Framework for Student Success

Once trained, teachers will be equipped to help students identify their strengths, explore new-age professions, and choose career pathways grounded in evidence and aptitude rather than guesswork or hearsay. This evidence-based approach represents a significant departure from traditional guidance methods, incorporating modern assessment methodologies and comprehensive career landscape understanding.

The programme structure recognises that effective career guidance requires multifaceted teacher preparation: foundational knowledge about diverse career options, practical skills for delivering classroom guidance sessions, and interpersonal abilities for meaningful one-on-one mentoring relationships.

Scalable Impact and Implementation Timeline

Over the next several months, thousands of Punjab teachers will acquire new skills, develop increased confidence in career guidance delivery, and cultivate the ability to shape the futures of hundreds of thousands of children across the state. The phased implementation approach allows for systematic training, feedback integration, and continuous improvement.

This collaboration represents a deliberate policy shift recognizing that teachers, as primary institutional touchpoints for most students, represent the most scalable and sustainable infrastructure for democratizing career guidance. Rather than depending on expensive private career counsellors or centralised guidance centres accessible only to privileged urban students, the state is leveraging its existing teacher workforce as career mentors.

Strategic Significance for India's Educational Transformation

The Punjab-IIT Madras partnership exemplifies India's evolving approach to addressing systemic educational challenges through strategic institutional collaborations. Several dimensions underscore the initiative's transformative potential:

Bridging the Urban-Rural Education Gap

Career guidance accessibility has traditionally been concentrated in urban centres and among families with financial resources. Teachers trained as career mentors create distributed, accessible guidance networks reaching rural students who otherwise lack exposure to contemporary career landscapes and emerging opportunities in technology, green sectors, and knowledge-based industries.

Enabling Teacher Professional Development

The programme simultaneously addresses two national priorities: enhancing career guidance access for students and professional development for teachers. Teachers gain new skills, updated knowledge about evolving career ecosystems, and enhanced confidence in counselling and mentoring roles, improving their overall professional capabilities.

Aligning with the National Education Policy 2020

This initiative aligns with NEP 2020's emphasis on holistic education, transcending purely academic achievement. NEP recognises career guidance as integral to student development, yet implementation remains uneven across states. Punjab's comprehensive programme provides a replicable model for other states seeking structured approaches to career counselling integration.

Creating Sustainable, Scalable Solutions

Unlike short-term career fair events or centralized counselling centers, embedding career mentoring within the teacher workforce creates sustainable, year-round guidance infrastructure. Teachers develop ongoing relationships with students, enabling longitudinal support as students navigate crucial academic-to-professional transitions.

Preparing Students for Emerging Opportunities

The emphasis on "top 100 high-demand careers" and "new-age professions" reflects recognition that traditional career guidance often lags emerging opportunities. Students need exposure to artificial intelligence, renewable energy, biotechnology, data science, and other fields reshaping employment landscapes. Teacher mentors trained on contemporary career trends can guide students toward future-ready pathways.

Broader Implications for India's Career Guidance Infrastructure

This initiative contributes to India's evolving career guidance ecosystem addressing critical gaps identified in education policy and research:

National Skill Development Integration: The programme connects classroom academic learning with skill development pathways and employment opportunities, embodying integrated education approaches central to contemporary pedagogical frameworks.
Equitable Opportunity Access: By leveraging existing teacher infrastructure rather than creating parallel structures accessible only to privileged populations, the programme embodies principles of equitable access central to inclusive development.
Teacher Agency and Empowerment: The initiative recognises teachers as capable professionals deserving continuous professional development, rather than viewing them as implementers of externally-designed curricula. This approach likely enhances teacher motivation, satisfaction, and instructional quality.
Institutional Collaboration Model: The partnership between a state education system and a premier technical institution demonstrates productive synergies where IIT expertise enriches school-level implementation, creating pathways for meaningful engagement between research institutions and primary education.