Educational counseling refers to providing advice and assistance to students in the development of their educational plans and choice of appropriate courses. Counseling is apart of guidance process in which the student is approached on an individual level. As per Carl Rogers “Counseling is a series of direct contacts with the individual, in which one person or the client is helped to adjust more effectively to himself and its environment”
Why do we need it? Science or humanities? Arts or Languages? Medical or engineering? Literature or mass communication? Higher studies or a job?
All of us, at some point or the other, go through this conundrum, where we feel clueless about what stream to choose or which career to pursue. In the past few years, the education sector has witnessed significant changes. Not only has the quality of education improved but the number of specialized courses offered at colleges and universities at various levels across the world has increased. In such a scenario, students looking for quality education find it difficult to choose from an array of courses. This is where educational counseling is needed and proves to be of great support and help to an aspirant. Educational counseling gives proper guidance on how to deal with psychological problems which can badly impact the studies of students. Through the sessions of counseling, the students will be able to develop problem solving skills which to an extent help them to deal with particular issues surrounding their lives while being in an academic institution. It not only helps to shape students’ behaviour but also instills enough discipline in them. Proper guidance helps a student to achieve their goals because well guided and counseled students know what to do and how to do things in the best possible way. Students get comprehensive advice on career, courses and jobs that enable them to make a proper choice and understand what they can do with higher studies after they are done with schooling. Apart from providing a broader spectrum of various options of choosing their career, the educational counseling also help students to learn how to live-in peace and harmony with others in academia. Talks related to personal feelings, substance use or any kind of abuse can be openly discussed in psychological counseling that has emerged as a novel concept in the field of career counseling.
India has one of the worlds’ highest suicide rates among 15-29 age group. The main reasons include failing in exam, depression, unemployment. Even there are several suicidal stories making headlines during the board examination in our J&K. Especially in India, children are under extreme stress, trauma and anxiety related to examinations. The Indian educational system is always under the hammer for being competitive and focusing more on quantitative learning, long school hours, heavy school bags, improper curriculum. With this type of system, students become less creative, less innovative and have no room for self-learning which is the need of the hour. Fortunately, such drawbacks of indian education system have been taken care of in new education policy of 2020. According to recent news report in times of India, in every 55 minutes 1 student commits suicide in India. In the past three years more than 26,000 students have committed suicide due to stress, anxiety and depression. Owing to huge competition and expensive education system, parents pressurize their children to perform well and restricting them from sports and other outdoor activities. This all doesn’t work, rather, this makes the child depressed which burdens them fulfilling expectations of their parents. In this perspective the new education policy of India lays emphasis on establishment of career and psychological counseling cells in every educational institution. Counseling sessions at an early stage opens the lines of communication making children familiar with the importance of choosing the right career. The students in J&K end up choosing a wrong option due to lack of proper counseling and guidance. The results are obvious. Thousands of students get bachelors degree every year only to find themselves enlisted among the unemployed youth. These degree holders fail to contribute to the society because they are not equipped with the tools needed for such endeavours. It has been rightly said that education works best when it is focused and career oriented. The policy makers and authorities have to do something substantial apart from taking administrative measures every now and then in this regard. In J&K here are very less career counseling cells for students in their life and studying situations which could help us to improve the general framework conditions of higher education environment. Here in J&K not much attention had been given to students’ educational and career counseling in the past. This remained a low priority for two evident reasons. Firstly here is lack of awareness amongst the teachers, students and parents about the significance of career counselling and secondly the scarcity of resources doesn’t permit schools to consider it as a priority. To conclude, I quote Margaret Mead, “CHILDREN MUST BE TAUGHT HOW TO THINK, NOT WHAT TO THINK”.
(The author a resident of Lolab, Kupwara is pursuing Integrated PG in Zoology at Islamia College of Science and Commerce, Srinagar. Views are his own)
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