CBSE Unveils Career Tracking Platform and Guidance Strategy

Central Board of Secondary Education Introduces Career Guidance Dashboard and Counseling Hub & Spoke Model for 2025-2026 Academic Year

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced two new programs for the upcoming academic year, aiming to provide comprehensive support for students' career guidance and mental health needs. The programs, the Career Guidance Dashboard and the Counseling Hub & Spoke Model, were launched on August 7, 2025.

The Career Guidance Dashboard offers students a user-friendly digital platform that provides personalized tools to explore career interests, access curated career insights, and utilize career-planning resources. This empowers students to make informed and confident career decisions tailored to their academic and vocational preferences.

The Counseling Hub & Spoke Model supplements this by creating a structured mental health support framework across schools. In this model, trained counsellors in designated "hub schools" mentor multiple "spoke schools," facilitating peer learning, knowledge sharing, and capacity building in mental wellness and socio-emotional learning (SEL). This model ensures wider and coordinated psychosocial support, helping students with emotional challenges and promoting overall well-being.

These initiatives benefit students by:

Enhancing career planning through accessible, technology-driven resources that are inclusive and scalable, allowing students to explore and decide on career paths with confidence and updated information.
Providing mental health support via a collaborative network, increasing the availability and quality of counselling, addressing emotional and psychological needs systematically across schools.
Promoting overall well-being by integrating socio-emotional learning with career guidance, thereby supporting holistic development—academic, personal, and psychological—of students.

The initiatives align with the National Education Policy 2020 and are designed to continuously evolve with stakeholder feedback, aiming to foster healthier, well-prepared student communities in CBSE-affiliated schools.

The Career Guidance Dashboard includes features such as curated career insights, personalized tools for exploring student interests, and easy access to career-planning resources. It is available at cbsecareerguidance.in.

In the Counseling Hub and School Spoke Model, hub schools will be chosen based on their experience, infrastructure, counseling expertise, and proven track records. Each hub school will mentor 8-10 spoke schools. The initiatives also include digital safety workshops for students and aim to bridge the gap between urban and rural schools by ensuring equal access to quality career and mental health resources.

Over 200 counsellors have been trained as Master Trainers to implement these initiatives effectively. The initiatives promote both academic success and holistic personal growth by combining professional guidance with a culture of openness and early intervention. The CBSE Chairperson emphasized that the initiatives are designed to benefit schools and students and will evolve with stakeholder feedback.

Mental health clubs are part of the CBSE initiatives to support students' emotional needs. The initiatives involve monitoring and reporting with monthly meetings and updates to ensure quality and ongoing refinement. Many parents support these initiatives as they provide professional guidance for their kids. The initiatives aim to strengthen quality and sustainability through capacity-building objectives, professional learning networks for counsellors, and data-driven approaches.

By incorporating the Career Guidance Dashboard, CBSE aims to provide students with personalized tools for exploring career interests, enabling them to make informed decisions for their future.
The Counseling Hub & Spoke Model, launched by CBSE, will offer a collaborative network of trained counselors to provide mental health support and promote overall student well-being.
Furthermore, these initiatives emphasize education and self-development, integrating socio-emotional learning with career guidance for holistic personal growth.
The initiatives also prioritize career development, offering opportunities for skills training and learning to equip students with the necessary competencies for their chosen paths.
In addition, the Counseling Hub & School Spoke Model will span across multiple schools, ensuring equal access to quality mental health resources, bridging the gap between urban and rural areas.
As part of these initiatives, mental health clubs will be established, promoting mental health awareness and supporting students' emotional needs on a continuous basis.