BAJAUR: Speakers at a career counselling awareness seminar hereon Friday urged students to choose fields and professions as per market demands and have growth potential in view of the rapid development in AI, IT and businessrelated knowledge.
The seminar, jointly organised by the district administration and the District Youth Affairs Office, was held at the Government College of Management Sciences (GCMS), Khar.
Additional assistant commissioner, Khar, Engineer Asadullah Khan, district youth officer Fawad Ahmad, principal of GCMS Prof Muhammad Ayoub, Prof Abdul Azizand Hedayatullah were among the speakers of the daylong event, attended by a large number of students.
Highlighting the importance of the seminar, the speakers said such events were necessary to guide students about highly demanded fields and professions in light of the growing scope of new and non-traditional professionsin Pakistan and abroad.
‘The time has significantly changed after the advent of new business models, information technology and artificial intelligence.
Such career counselling awareness seminars are extremely valuable to guide students about subjects and professions which have long-term scope not only in the country but across the globe,’ they added.
They recalled that some 20 yearsago, most students across the country selected their subjectsbased on their parents’ wishes and the most preferred fields were medical and engineering.
They added that those students who failed to secure seats in medical and engineering colleges had no option but to pursue social sciences.
However, they noted that the situation has changed after the emergence of artificial intelligence, business-related fields and information technology, saying students should choose fields and subjectsthat have great scope and demand.
Many speakers were of the opinion that parents and guardians still play an important role in the selection ofsuitable subjects and fields, especially in areas like Bajaur where parents’ opinions are highly valued by their children.
The experts observed that the growing job market for business and IT-related professions has also greatly affected the scope of most social science subjects, as there is now very little demand for such knowledge in Pakistan and globally.
They, however, said that all kinds of medical and engineering-related subjects are still considered joboriented disciplines in Pakistanand globally.
‘There are scores of new and modern disciplines that guarantee easy and respectable jobs all over the country and abroad, whether in business, trade, information technology, tourism and hospitality, cyber security, agriculture, environment, health and engineering.
The speakers alsourged students to learn other languages and improve their English due to its high demand when applying for jobs and further education abroad, especially in the UK, USA and European countries.