From Clarity to Confidence: Namrata’s CareerAware Journey
Namrata studied at Charkop Sector 1 Marathi BMC School and was introduced to Antarang’s CareerAware Model in 9th grade. Growing up, her family faced financial challenges- her father works as an electrician, her mother is a homemaker, and she is the eldest of four sisters. Being the eldest motivated her to set a strong example and make her parents proud.
The CareerAware model helped Namrata understand her strengths, and the aptitude tests showed that engineering could be a path she was capable of pursuing. It gave her the clarity she needed to rule out what wasn’t right and focus on what was.
Today, Namrata is a third-year B.Tech student in Data Science at Osham Utpal Institute of Technology. Engineering fees were high, but with support from her teachers and scholarships, she managed the financial hurdles. The guidance and encouragement from her principal and mentors, combined with her determination, helped her navigate every challenge from admission processes to tuition fees. The model helped Namrata gain the confidence to take ownership of her choices and her future. Her advice to other students is simple: stay connected with your teachers, believe in yourself, and keep going even when it feels overwhelming.
This is why Antarang trains secondary school teachers as career facilitators in several states.
When our alumni and students tell us how much the career education intervention has meant to them, and our teams echo how satisfied they feel with the impact they are making on the ground, we know we are on the right track.
1.
JPMorganChase X Antarang: A Partnership That Speaks for Itself
Seeing Antarang on the front page of The Economic Times and Mint felt humbling and affirming. Not for the headline, but for what it stood for.
Five years of solid partnership with JPMorgan Chase, and over 100,000 students across several districts in Maharashtra government schools are gaining clearer, more informed career pathways. Behind that mention are classrooms where students learned to make choices with confidence, educators were supported to guide them better, and systems were strengthened at the district level.
It was a reminder we hold close: when partnerships are long-term, intentional, and rooted in equity, real change follows. Not just for organisations, but for young people shaping their own futures.
2.
Beyond The Report Card, All the Way to Nairobi
At the Global Schools Forum Annual Meet 2025 in Nairobi, conversations around education felt instantly familiar. Global Schools Forum is a London-based community of organisations working to improve education at scale, and Antarang joined the network this year.
Our Joint Executive Director, Swati Mohan, co-facilitated a workshop on reimagining success in secondary education. The discussion quickly moved beyond marks and milestones, focusing instead on agency, skills, curiosity, self-belief, and readiness for the world of work. Educators questioned rigid career norms and narrow ideas of achievement, reflecting a shared belief we hold at Antarang: education should help young people make informed choices and build pathways aligned with their interests.
Planning for 2045 while acting today felt like an actionable vision given the shared intent. A reminder of why this work matters, everywhere.
3.
From Classrooms in India to Conversations at EPIC Night, London
London offered a stage and alignment to Antarang’s vision of an equitable world for all young adults.
At EPIC Foundation’s 10-year celebration, our Founder-Director, Priya Agrawal, gave a powerful speech sharing the story of our work unfolding quietly across classrooms in India, guided by a simple belief that every young person deserves a real choice when it comes to their careers and their futures.
As the conversation asked how giving can truly create change, Antarang’s journey showed what happens when a partnership and philanthropy is based on trust.
EPIC’s trust based, unrestricted support has helped strengthen our research, grow career facilitators across states, and build leadership within the organisation. In a world where millions leave school without direction or skills, the conversation reinforced why long-term thinking and deep partnerships matter.
4.
From Classrooms to Compendiums
The HCL Grant Fifth Estate Compendium is a publication by HCLFoundation showcasing impactful NGOs transforming Rural India in environment, health and education, recognising them as the Fifth Estate for nation-building, alongside the traditional four pillars of democracy.
Being featured in the Compendium’s Volume IX is a meaningful milestone for Antarang.
Selected among the top 10 education organisations from over 13,900 applications, this recognition affirms the strength of our Careers Model and our belief that career education must be aspirational, structured, and accessible, especially for young adults in government schools across India. A warm thank you to HCL Foundation and the HCLTech Grant team for recognizing our vision.
5.
When Systems Work, Scale Follows:
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai features Antarang Foundation in the MCGM Year Book 2025! Another affirmation of a strong partnership was eing featured in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Year Book 2025. This reflects years of steady work with students, educators, and the local government in Mumbai.
Through Antarang’s Career Awareness programme, career counselling for Class 9 and 10 students in BMC secondary schools began in April 2024 for the 2024–25 academic year.
Alongside career guidance, students also received support to navigate the college admissions process. So far, 24,042 students from Class 9 and 17,084 students from Class 10 have benefited.
This recognition sends a strong signal that when public systems and purpose-driven partners work together, scale becomes possible and no student has to navigate their future alone.
6.
A Daan Utsav Powered by People
Antarang Foundation heartily participated in this year’s edition of Daan Utsav – a week of giving, celebrated every year from Oct 2nd–8th, where millions come together to give time, money, skills, or simply kindness.
Daan Utsav enabled collective action for Antarang – where all of us became fundraisers! With easy-to-use templates, Antarangi stories flowed naturally across platforms. Teammates tagged, shared, amplified, and our voices came together as one.
And we raised some much needed capital!
7.
A Table, A Conversation, and A Shared Commitment:
Antarang’s first-ever Friend-raising dinner
An evening at San Francisco Bay Area’s Los Altos reminded us that impact often begins with conversation. Hosted by long-time Antarang supporters Varsha Damle and Anand Ramesh, the gathering brought together people who care deeply about the futures of young people in India.
The discussion explored the realities of youth employment and what becomes possible when systems are built with intention. Hearing different journeys in the room, from an Antarang alumnus now pursuing a doctorate in the US to supporters who have walked alongside the organisation for years, the conversations were deep and real.
What stood out most was the openness. People asked questions, reflected honestly, and showed up with intent.
8.
Celebrating 4 years of Shared Commitment with Bharat Bijlee Ltd!
As Bharat Bijlee joined us in a Grade 10 session, they saw what a long-term partnership can quietly build. Students asking sharper questions, imagining bigger futures, and engaging with career choices with growing confidence. It was a moment that reflected the impact of showing up consistently, year after year.
Over the past three years, Bharat Bijlee has supported career education for over 19,000 students across Mumbai and Thane, alongside 70 trained Career Facilitators.
Their classroom visit and conversations with educators and our team captured the spirit of this partnership: thoughtful, grounded, and deeply invested in helping young people make informed, aspirational choices.
As we step into the fourth year together, the belief remains the same. When trust meets action, futures begin to take shape.
9.
Strong Roots. Bold Wings. One Sky.
In November, teams from across five states came together at Garudmaachi for Antarang’s annual retreat. The Organising Committee that formed to manage the retreat of this size and scale saw so many potential leaders with different capabilities emerge.
The entire retreat was smoothly managed for a hundred people with diverse needs- from logistics to room allocations to games to content to facilitators to food to agendas- with clear ownership of every detail.
Beyond planning and sessions, the retreat gave us space to pause and reconnect with why we do this work: building real and dignified career pathways for young people. Through conversations, learning spaces, and shared moments, we aligned on our values, challenged our assumptions, and built deeper trust across teams. Every voice mattered. Every interaction added clarity. We returned feeling grounded and ready to carry this shared energy forward as one community.
From Wadala to a PhD in the US: Vijaykumar’s Antarangi Flight
Vijaykumar Naidu’s journey began as a high schooler in Wadala and has taken him all the way to a PhD at the University of North Texas. His story is one of aspiration, persistence, and seizing the right opportunities at the right time, supported by guidance and a commitment to building skills along the way.
It wasn’t an easy path- balancing undergraduate and graduate studies, gaining experience in pharma and biotech, and moving quickly when opportunities arose. Yet, Vijay’s story is a reminder of why keeping the aspirations of young adults at the centre of our work matters.
Seeing him share his journey at Antarang Foundation’s first-ever “friend-raising” dinner in San Francisco inspired everyone in the room and reaffirmed the power of guidance, preparation, and bold dreaming.
“Still, dreaming’s the point. It’s how we become. Before we build, we imagine; before we act, we picture what could be.”
— Suleika Jaouad
#MyCareerMyChoice
The work is challenging, impact takes years, true change is often generational,
but this shared belief in equity and celebrating partnerships that are built on trust feels truly special.
Huge gratitude to all partners and well-wishers of Antarang and warm wishes for a purposeful 2026 from all of us!
