2 hours Ago By Business Times
KUALA LUMPUR: Schola, Malaysia's first free digital career exploration platform for secondary school students, has made its debut at The Grounds, MAHSA Avenue here.Developed by Creador Foundation, the launch on Saturday was held in conjunction with "Kepoh Kerja dengan Schola", a career discovery festival featuring over 50 professionals with close to 700 attendees participating."Schola was built to answer a critical question: How can students make informed decisions about their future, if they've not been exposed to which careers are even possible?" it remarked.
Creador Foundation said statistics reveal a concerning trend, where eight out of 10 secondary school students in Malaysia lack essential knowledge about their chosen or dream careers."Seven out of 10 don't actively research career options and six out of 10 base their career choices on short-term factors," Creador Foundation vice president and Schola head Maha Subramaniam said."Students are being asked what they want to be when they grow up - hence our goal is to shift the focus by ensuring career exposure starts much earlier," he added.
Subramaniam said it had spoken to over 1,000 students, and a clear pattern emerged: the primary focus on career alignment typically occurs near graduation based on the selected course."We aim to shift this mindset, empowering students to proactively explore career paths earlier and choose courses that truly resonate with their interests and ambitions from the outset."Through in-depth interviews with 230 professionals across various industries, Schola has developed over 150 job guides that provide students with real-life career insights, he added.
Since its beta introduction in August 2024, Schola has reached over 190,000 users across all states, generated 4.7 million organic social media views, and has already gotten buy-in from 2,300 teachers nationwide.Creador Foundation protector Shanthi Kandiah said by encouraging students to consider their future fields of study and careers earlier, it aims to help them visualise the larger possibilities that lie ahead.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd.
