Bridging the gap

By Sher Alam Shinwari

Guidance is like the skeleton while counselling is the flesh. A guidance and counselling unit or centre is the most important component of the academic system at every level in the advanced countries.Not only does it look into the emotional, psychological and social problems of the students, it also serves the purpose of bringing about a healthy relationship between the teacher and the student, and the parents and school administration. And all this is for the comprehensive development of a growing child, enabling him to absorb the emerging changes and challenges lying ahead.

Some of the better educational institutions in the private sector have set up a separate unit for interaction between the teachers’ students and parents which is seen as something quite out of the ordinary in the public sector.

But the provincial education department in the frontier had in the early ’80s launched guidance and counselling units throughout the province. Some 72 trained officials were appointed for the sole purpose of guiding and counselling for producing effective academic results in frontier schools. These officials were supposed to address only non-academic problems pertaining to the physiological, sociological and physychlogical aspects of the learners that could help administration evaluate overall academic excellence and also foresee its impact on the education process. But the process was discontinued and now we stand at a point where the teachers seem to be in more need of guidance and counselling than their students.

This scribe, with the help of a sample test distributed among 25 senior teachers of the topmost five educational institutions in Peshawar, found that they had only joined the teaching profession in absence of other lucrative jobs.

Many were of the view that their job was only to teach their respective subjects and they were not supposed to peep into the students’ personal problems.“Our school administration takes strict notice of a teacher’s relationship with his or her students other than academics. Therefore, we dare not ask what’s troubling them even if they misbehave,” said a teacher.

The widening gap between the teachers and the students sometimes leads to misunderstandings and even hatred. Similarly the relationship between the troika of parents, school administration and the students is a must for the smooth functioning of the education system. It produces quality results.

According to the experts, effective guidance and counselling can be carried out in 10 different stages where the process itself should be based on mutual confidentiality, respect and a complete background study of the case in point. Although guidance and counselling is taught to teachers during various courses including BEd and MEd, it is used by only a few as an effective tool to improve the academic atmosphere.

A few years ago, we started a guidance and counselling programme at our school during which I was able to gain unique experience. One day, a student came up to me with a strange story. He revealed that his family had been forcing him to marry a girl. He was indecisive and his future was at stake too as he could not concentrate on his studies with the intermediate examinations on his head. Another, wrongly accused of stealing Rs30,000, approached us in the nick of time as he was contemplating suicide.

Then a teacher came to our office to seek advice on whether or not to reciprocate a parent found using abusive language. We dealt with several such serious cases and resolved them amicably by involving parents, elders and even a local psychiatrist’s services.

Choosing a profession is one of the most widespread problems that almost every student encounters at least once or twice during his academic life. Guidance and counselling can help students choose a better path.

Prof Dr Wazeem Khan, who holds a PhD in guidance and counselling from Sussex University, presently teaches the subject at the Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of Peshawar. When contacted for his input on the topic of discussion, he said: “The institute had initially launched a diploma course in guidance and counselling years ago while suggesting to the education department to induct officials for the purpose of purely extending guidance and counselling at all levels but the project was scrapped later on. Still we offer guidance and counselling as an optional subject. I have asked 90 per cent trainee teachers as to why they opted for teaching and have found them to be quite unaware of its real motive.”

He went on to explain: “See 70 per cent of our qualified doctors and engineers go into civil services. This is simply because of a lack or absence of guidance and counselling units here. Educational institutions in particular and other departments in general are required to have guidance and counselling units for carrying out an effective academic process and administrative work. This will ultimately result in good governance, a smooth administrative setup with a positive impact on overall social behaviour.”

Dr Wazeem added that the teachers here are preoccupied with correcting students’ behaviour but it is also a reality that they themselves are in need of more guidance than their students. Same is the case with the institution heads. Then some parents infringe the teachers’ rights to begin telling them how to do their job thus spoiling the interactive process.

“We need proper guidance and counselling before adopting any profession. That way we are in a better position to know about social interaction, the depth and purpose of the profession in order to attain a certain level of commitment to the job that we were awarded a degree for,” informed the professor while recalling that a doctor here once supervised the road construction department while a secretary, who was in fact an engineer, headed the frontier health department.

“Today, we unfortunately have a large number of youngsters going astray. They can easily fall prey to drug addiction, extremism, militancy to become social outcasts in the absence of proper guidance and counselling centres at schools. The trend is higher among boys than girls because female students are forced to observe social values while male wards are given a free hand,” observed Prof Shameem Akhtar Khan, a serving career guidance expert at a local girls’ college in Peshawar.

The task of counselling can be assigned to some of its senior and well-trained teachers by every educational institution.“Most young students approach me to seek advice on how to deal with fearsome teachers as they feel they cannot discuss any problem with them. Some even fail to discuss personal issues with their parents while others develop various phobias. And the problem is increasing day by day. Guidance and counselling units can bridge the widening gap between students, teachers, parents and educational institutions,” suggested Dr Hanif, a psychiatrist.

The writer is lecturer in English at Peshawar Public School and College

Source: http://www.dawn.com/weekly/education/archive/090208/education3.htm