A mother-daughter duo has kickstarted a campaign ‘I Am, Therefore I Can’, which will soon host a talk for kids in the city
Ekta Surana
When Ekta Surana asked her 12-year-old daughter Aashna what she wanted to become when she grew up, the latter responded, “I don’t know yet, Ma.” They were stuck in a typical Indian parent-child situation, wherein the former would start popping out the conventional options of IAS, medicine or engineering. Instead, Ekta, an educator and an image consultant herself, sat down with her daughter and started conversing as to where her interests lie.
“Some weeks later, she walked up to me and said she wanted to be an artist as they create beautiful paintings and bring a smile on people’s face. But, then she said she is not too sure,” recalled Ekta. This conversation took place a year ago. Since then, several similar conversations with many kids made them realise that a lot of them are confused.
This led them to kickstart a campaign called ‘I Can, Therefore I Am’, through which they brought essential elements associated with children and career choices together. The duo started off with interviewing experts from different fields like Arun Jain from Polaris, racer Armaan Ebrahim and several doctors and scientists. “We did a spot analysis and got to know directly from them as to what it takes to become an expert in their field. This led children to get real, hands-on experience,” she said.
They also identified children between the age group of 11 to 17 pan-India, who were passionate and wanted to pursue more than just academics. “One wanted to climb Mount Everest, another wanted to become an aqua sporting expert; whereas one, who had won a Google science fair wanted to become an inventor!” Aashna explained.
Now, to bring all this onto one platform, Ekta and Aashna will be organising a talk in Chennai, wherein these kids will come and speak about their journey so far and how they want to pursue their dream.
In the changing academic and educational scenario, children and their thought process have also been evolving. With new horizons opening up for several unique and challenging career choices, the need to know a profession before taking the plunge is also increasing among kids,” explained Ekta, who is also the founder of Redefine Image, an image consulting firm and is a trustee at the Surana Group of Schools, a philanthropic school started by her father-in-law.
The talk show will be held at the Chinmaya Heritage Centre on November 21, which will have several renowned faces on the panel including Sheryl Abshire, Advisor to Micheal Dell; Kathy Hurley, CEO, Girls Thinking Global, USA and Keith Krueger, Consortium of School Networking America, USA.
Stressing on the importance of speaking to children, Ekta said, “Students from classes 11 and 12 commit suicide, because they fail in exams. If they cannot face small failures, how will they face life? It is important that one talks to them and find out as to what they want to do and then support them,” she explained.
Aashna however wants to take time off to make her career choices. “After I finish my 12th grade, I want to bag pack and travel the world alone. I want to take a year off, learn everything and then come back and decide what I want to do,” she says on a concluding note.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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