Once students pass their School Leaving Certificate and their Plus Two examinations, the perpetual questions that arises are: what course of study to pursue next and where. This year, around a million students from across the country have passed grades 10 and 12 and are actively looking for avenues to pursue further education .

The selection of the right college and subject is of utmost importance to students as their college education will lay the foundation for their careers. While students might not end up pursuing the subject they study in college, it can allow them the option to branch out into related fields and even help them decide if they don’t want to study that subject at all. In order to provide a proper platform for students and their parents to select the most suitable subjects and colleges, Kantipur Publications and the Higher Secondary Schools’ Association (HISSAN) are jointly organising an education fair.

The ‘Kantipur HISSAN Edu Fair 2013,’ to be organised at the Exhibition hall in Bhrikutimandap, will kick off at 10 am on Thursday. The fair, which will be inaugurated by Education Minister  Madhav Poudel, will feature Nepali academic institutions from the school to university levels. Seventy-one stalls from 60 academic institutions associated with the Association of Private Education Institutes in Nepal will provide information and counseling to

students and their parents. The four-day event, according to organisers, aims to inform visitors that domestic

institutions are just as capable of imparting quality education on par with international standards within the country itself.

“Unlike other fairs, this one has no foreign institutions and agents,” said HISSAN General Secretary Yubaraj Sharma, who is also fair co-coordinator. He claimed that the fair might even put a dent in the trend of students going abroad for study.

Mahesh Swar, Chief Marketing Officer with Kantipur Publications and co-coordinator of the fair, said that the collaboration with HISSAN is to provide students with reliable information in choosing the right subjects for their career.

The exhibition will provide students with a great opportunity to evaluate the various options available to them to meet their needs and ambitions and all under one roof, said Swar. “We are hopeful that our efforts will help control the country’s brain drain by retaining students in the country,” he said. The event will introduce a wide spectrum of courses, as well as provide the opportunity to speak individually to academics and representatives from different institutes across the country. Courses at the fair range from science, the arts and humanities to new disciplines like chartered accountancy, paramedicine, information technology and fashion design, among others. Daily sessions and seminars on the Nepali academic system and the status of education in the country will also be held. The fair will also be hosting a psychological counseling session.

Around 200,000 footfalls are expected for this season’s first academic fair, which will conclude on May 19. The organisers said that they will provide around 100 full and partial scholarships to students chosen through a lucky draw. Similarly, one lucky visitor every day will receive a tablet computer while a number of gift hampers will also be distributed. A share of the ticket proceeds will be donated to the Nepal Police to set up a School Security Cell.

Trinity International College, Xavier International College, Nobel Academy and Global College International are the main sponsors of the event while co-sponsors include Goldengate, Himalayan Whitehouse, Mega, Pentagon, Little Angels, VS Niketan, Kathmandu Model, Capital College and Research Centre, Radon, Everest Florida, NIST, Asian Institute of Technology and Management and Nasa International College.

source: the kathmandu post,16 may 2013