Over 22% students who have appeared for their SSC exams from Mumbai this year have shown interest in fine arts as a possible career option, figures from the aptitude and interest tests conducted by the education department have revealed.

This year, over 16 lakh students from the state including 3.51 lakh from the Mumbai division had appeared for the test. Students can check their test results starting today on the government’s official website http://www.mahacareermitra.in and the mobile app ‘Maha Career Mitra’.

Fine arts and uniform services emerged as two of the top preferred choices for students in the state with 18.17% and 17.83 % students showing their interest in these areas. In the Mumbai division, Commerce emerged as the second most preferred choice with 18.14% students followed by uniform services for which 17.83% students have shown interest.

Over the last three years, the state education department has been conducting ‘kal chachani’ (aptitude test) with the help of Shyamchi Aai Foundation to help students pick their careers after passing the board exams. Until now, the tests were administered online with schools using their computers for the task. From the current academic year however, schools have to use smartphones with an application installed in it. The 90-minute test has for the first time tested students on various aptitudes scales and not merely on the basis of their interest in a particular subject as done earlier.

This year, the department has released the report early to ensure that students get enough time to explore a career option during the summer vacations. “Until last year, students used to get their reports at the time of board results. We realised that this was too late as most students think about their career options during the vacations. With the mobile aptitude tests, we could declare results early this year,” said Sheetal Bapat, founder-director of the Shyamchi Aai Foundation.

Nirali Shah, a city based career counsellor said that a lot of career options are now opening up in fine arts which might have attracted more students to the field. “Artists have a lot of opportunities today- from playing the role of an art curator to art education; there are many areas in which there are ample job opportunities today. Commerce however still continues to be popular due to the professional courses like BAF, BBA etc.” she added.

Students will get a printed copy of their reports by March 22. The education department has uploaded several guidance videos on its website and has also published a list of district-wise guidance centres where students can get free counselling.

Total students

Maharashtra: 16, 13,609

Mumbai: 3, 51,866

Maharashtra top three choices:

Fine arts 18.17%

Uniform services 17.83%

Commerce 16.19%

Mumbai top three choices:

Fine arts 22.29

Commerce 18.14%

Uniform services 17.83%

First Published: Mar 16, 2019 08:59 IST