The 2025 IC3 Regional Forum reached Bhopal, bringing together educators, counselors, and representatives from leading institutions across Madhya Pradesh in the region to discuss the importance of career counseling and student well-being.

Ahead of the Union Budget 2025-26, leaders highlight priorities to boost education, innovation, and global competitiveness.

The upcoming Union Budget for FY25-26, set for February 1st, is drawing keen attention from all corners of India’s economy. Industries spanning infrastructure, IT, telecom, agriculture, healthcare, human resources, and education are on high alert, anticipating how the government’s fiscal strategy will shape their futures.

In a country where education is often seen as the primary pathway to success, students grapple with intense academic pressure and career expectations, and societal demands.

For decades, conversations around college fit often circled around rankings, acceptance rates, and name recognition. Counselors, parents, and students alike measured success by proximity to prestige. Yet, a quiet but powerful shift is underway. Across continents and classrooms, students are beginning to ask a deeper question: not just “Where can I get in?” but “Why am I going there?”This evolution in mindset represents one of the most meaningful transformations in modern education. It signals a move from prestige to purpose, from status to substance, and from competition to connection.

Have you ever noticed how when schools, communities, NGOs, and government institutions team up, public school counseling begins to shift from aspiration into action? For the IC3 Movement, highlighting these collaborations shows how education policy, public school counseling, and government and education reform can work together with inspiring results.

At the heart of the IC3 Movement lies a simple but profound mission: to bring career and college counseling into every school, for every student, everywhere. This mission challenges an uncomfortable truth that access to good guidance often depends on where you live, what your family earns, or the networks you are born into. For too long, career guidance has been viewed as a luxury, available mostly to those in well-resourced schools or urban centers. IC3 exists to make sure that changes.

Walk into any classroom or hallway today, and you will see students with eyes fixed on their phones, laptops, or tablets. Technology is everywhere, and it is shaping how students learn, connect, and dream about the future. While the digital world offers incredible opportunities, it also raises important questions about balance, well-being, and human connection. This is where counselors, especially career and college counselors, come in. In a hyperconnected world, counselors are not only helping students choose careers and universities. They are also guiding them to use technology wisely, balance screen time, and connect with their true aspirations.