Karnataka Examinations Authority launches mentorship app to help students with counselling

Bengaluru: Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has launched an app to connect students participating in this year’s counselling with seniors who secured seats last year.Called KEA Connect, the app has been developed to help students navigate the counselling process. “Currently, many middlemen are taking advantage of vulnerable students and charging them for helping them with counselling process. We want to make the procedure hassle-free for students,” said H Prasanna, executive director of KEA.Senior students will serve as mentors, guiding aspirants through counselling and admission process. This can be provided virtually and each senior student can mentor up to five candidates. In case a student is not happy with the mentor, he/she can reject and apply for a new one, he explained.KEA, using its database from last year, has sent a message to previous candidates to join the initiative. It has also circulated the link for students to register for the programme through engineering colleges. Participation in the initiative is voluntary. Mentees will get a pop-up question once they log in on whether they want to apply for this or not.The mentoring will be limited to a few hours in the evening (5pm- 7pm) as many senior students involved in guiding aspirants will also be pursuing their own education and academic responsibilities.So far, 1,372 candidates have agreed to become mentors, while 1,724 current students have sought help and become mentees. At least 89 pairs have been set up so far.KEA has installed chatbot kiosks in its revamped office. “Students can ask any doubts at the kiosks. It will respond in the preferred language,” said Prasanna. There is free Wi-Fi service for students visiting KIA office for admission purposes.