Time and tide waits for none and it is very important to take a right decision at a right time. This is especially true for students starting their careers. With options aplenty, reaching out for advice from experts can make a world of a difference. Ujjain based Wise Councillors is one such organization that understands the students' needs and interests, and advices and guides them in a right direction. At the helm of affairs is Sakina Murtaza Geenwala, Founder of Wise Councillors. Armed with a Master of Arts in English Literature, Bachelor of Education degree, Diploma in Child Psychology & stress management, school management & administration and Honors Diploma in Computer Software, Sakina has been guiding her students to make wise career choices.

The ongoing pandemic has changed every aspect of everyday life, but the most affected have been students. Teachers are putting in hard work beyond their strength to keep students on track. Sakina is no different. Her days have been busy between online classes and training sessions. In an exclusive conversation with the Women Entrepreneur team, Sakina speaks to us about how the firm is helping students by guiding them to success even through the pandemic.

Being A Teacher, How Have Things Been During The Pandemic? What Have Been Some Pros And Cons On Teaching And Counselling Children Virtually?
Being a professional teacher I had been taking online classes for a long time, and also counselling through online portals.

Just how a coin has two faces, the same goes for every situations in life as well. In terms of the positive aspect, we are at least able to have a conversation with our students and they are more comfortable in talking to us while staying in their comfort zones. Due to lockdown the entire family would sit together and attend a meeting which was less time consuming. I have also had the opportunity to help students in other states as well.

On the other hand, the negative side is that counselling them was not that easy since we could not be present physically with them. Virtual guiding and counselling is not as effective as doing it in reality.

What Are Some New Methodologies And Technologies That You Have Implemented In Your Teaching Method?
We have adopted many changes since lockdown. Earlier we were not aware of the advanced technologies in the field of teaching but now we have become experts. In this one year of lockdown we have come across several online platforms to interact with children and that made our work easy. We have been using these platforms to assign and track the assessment of the students. We assign them worksheets, some activities to be done through these platforms.

What Differences Do You Find Pre And Post Lockdown In Students'learning Capabilities?
I have observed several difference in the way students learned pre and post lockdown. Since there are few hard copies for students to refer to, they research a lot on the internet and are ready with hordes of questions and eagerly waiting for the next class. This is increasing the quest in the students to know new things, but it is the duty of the teacher to keep the students busy with the assigned work so that students do not deviate to the unnecessary activities.

I appreciate the way they are using technology. The issue is that not all the students will have access to gadgets and network. Other than availability of gadgets another challenge is in terms of amount of focus a student can put in. Each student has a different IQ and grasping power, so when they are with us in one place, be it a school or organization, it is easy for us to make them understand things better. But now each student is sitting in different environments and we are not assured that all the students concentrate on what we teach and they get distracted easily.

We currently lack in three things: Discipline, Concentration and healthy Competition. From wearing uniforms to sitting in a right posture, everything has been disturbed which is making students undisciplined. They are lacking in concentration because of the activities at home. Students are not trying out the things on their own as they are getting everything on Google and YouTube and they are missing out on healthy competition.

In Your Opinion How Will Education Evolve If The Current Situation Prevails?
If the situation continues where everyone has to stay indoors, students would miss out the practicality of things that happen in their surrounding as they can't travel, meet new people, and interact with other students.

The good thing is that technology has advanced in such a way that even students can get access to education abroad while being in India. Even in the case of work, there will be no need of going on site, they can still work abroad staying in India. The opportunities are increasing day by day but the students have to step out of their comfort zone to bag them.

What Is The Roadmap Set For Wise Counsellor In The Days To Come?
The whole world has adopting everything online and that's the good thing for me. Since the lockdown I had been active on social media, started my YouTube channel, blogging, using Twitter and doing things online. This has increased my reach to people. I am now trying to start batches of minimum 25 students at one time, counselling them one on one, collecting their problems and talking to all 25 of them together. Success of one student is the struggle of other, when they are all brought on one platform they will understand the situation better. Bringing all the students from different places and different backgrounds together, makes them understand what others are facing right now.
There will be three sessions, one on one interview, one on one counselling and one session for different state students and that is what I am going to add this year in my counselling.

This year more activities are to be done such as online tests, interactive sessions for the new clients, and making other students to interact with our students among others.

Sakina Murtaza Geenwala, Founder, Wise Councillors
Sakina holds a Masters of Arts (M.A.) in English Literature. She is Montessori trained. She has also completed her Bachelors in Education. Apart from this, she holds a UCLA Certified Global Career Counselor Diploma provided by Univariety. She holds a Diploma in child psychology and stress management and an Honors Diploma in Computer Software. She has been working in the field of Education since 1997.

About Family:Sakina basically belongs to Ujjain and had received whole education and still acquiring. Sakina says, “I am so lucky and blessed to have Mr. Murtaza Geenwala as my life partner, my better half, best friend, a mentor and a guide. My backbone in simple words. I am obliged to have Mr. Najmuddin & Shirin Hararwala as my parents and Mr. Shk. Akbar Ali & Nafisa Geenwala as my in laws.” She feels extremely proud to be mother of Husain & Idris & found an angel in the form of Tasneem, Sakina's daughter in law. Whatever Sakina has achieved, she credits support to her family and friends, who believe in her. Belonging to Dawoodi Bohra community that though very less in number but highly literate, tight-knit. “We are mostly self reliant, typically traders, business persons and entrepreneurs, flourishing under the leadership of our Spiritual leader 53rd Da'I al-Mutlaq His Holiness Syedna Aaliqadr Mufaddal Saifuddin TUS. I want to pay my gratitude to him as what I am today is due to his blessings.”