CBSE launches new initiatives for Student support for the 2025 academic year

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has taken a bold step in transforming student support systems with the announcement of two major initiatives, which, when fully implemented, will change career services as well as mental health services in Indian schools. The initiatives are already buzzing in academic circles as the educators across the country are gearing up for the 2025-26 academic session.

Students are now receiving support in two directions with the new Career Guidance Dashboard as well as the Counseling Hub and Spoke Model, which educators are referring to as the most all-encompassing and robust student support package since the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. These initiatives have been flagged as solutions to two of the most pressing challenges in Indian education: career trajectory planning and mental health services.

"Himanshu Gupta - the Secretary of CBSE shared in the circular, the modern student encounters new level challenges, including an intricately woven job market, as well as the stress that comes with the digital age. Gupta also went on to say, these stride add-ons, but rather, we are reimagining the school ecosystems and therefore are of the utmost importance.”

Digitization of Career Counseling

For online CBSE schools, the first initiative is to focus on the Career Guidance Dashboard (cbsecareerguidance.in), which is now live. Unlike the career portals we used in the past, the new platform has personalised inbuilt tools like aptitude testing, industry connectedness, and even live market analytics.

The implementation of the new system is described to be a “quantum leap” when compared to the traditional career counseling techniques. The new-age techniques help business students relate their strengths with the ever-growing new-age vocations such as AI ethics and even renewable energy, Priya Menon – a career counselor in a model school in Delhi shared.

Mental Health is better addressed in Collaboration Model

The “Spoke and Hub” model is more about to support counseling in collaboration to the model’s creating mentorship networks between tapped in in schools. Under the “Hub”, schools with strong counseling programs help clusters of 8-10 “Spoke” schools to guide monthly in sharing activities and resources. The mentoring school “Hub” assists the weak with more towards. From July to February, the model includes a comprehensive activity calendar containing skills workshops such as digital safety, growth mindset cultivation, and even “My Strength Shield” exercises in August, all the way to advanced conflict resolution through innovative peer mediation in November.

With the implementation phase scheduled for this month, the impending outcome of the programmes will be the focus of attention. With the well-being of students now being placed alongside academic goals, the year 2025 may be remembered as the year the education system in India became truly holistic.

Participants may contact the email cbse.counseling@gmail.com as well as the official CBSE portal for the complete activity calendar and participation guidelines.