Navy woos GenX in top city school

Kolkata: “Can students from the commerce and humanities stream join the Indian Navy?” asked a student from the Future Foundation School.
“Do you remember the role Tom Cruise played in the movie ‘A Few Good Men’? We do need lawyers, teachers and people for administrative work from the commerce and humanities stream,” the Navy officer replied.
On Friday, a team of Navy officers conducted career counseling at the school to encourage youngsters to join the Navy as a career.
“It created a great impact. This was the second year running that the Navy has held such a session in our school. Such awareness is required for the students who are now deciding on their careers. There was confusion regarding the Navy and merchant navy. This was cleared,” said Manisha Ajmera, a senior teacher of the school.
“The Navy in also on the lookout for engineers. What I liked most is that the officers said that the students from the science stream who score between 70-80% in their ISC examination can choose a career in the Navy,” she added.
The Navy’s Kolkata office plans to hold such sessions in 15 schools. From this year, they will also organize a painting competition for school children.
“The aim is to create awareness. Very little is known about the Navy in this part of the country as we can’t bring in as many ships as we would have liked. There is tremendous interest among students, particularly among girls. Many are keen to take up the Navy as a career. We want to take the Navy closer to the youngsters. We also invited the children to the naval ships when they dock here in November,” said Commodore Ravi Ahluwalia, naval officer-in-charge, West Bengal.