International Research Journal of Social Sciences_____________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565

Vol. 3(3), 44-47, March (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.

Review paper
Emerging area of Counselling in Schools in India
Kodad H.S1 and Kazi S.A.2
1
Karnataka State Women’s University, Bijapur, INDIA
2
Dept. of Social Work , Dean of Social Sciences and Registrar, Karnataka State Women’s University, Bijapur, INDIA
Available online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me
Received 26th January 2014, revised 15th February 2014, accepted 13th March 2014
Abstract
The changing family structure and the evolving social trends with a breakdown in the traditional support system has
created a gap for fulfilling the physical , psychological and social needs of the child stressing the need for an alternative
support system to meet the needs of the child. Counselling in schools is definitely the bridge that might fill this gap. The
area of school counselling in India is very young and needs to spread and establish itself. The norms for it’s practice have
to be laid down, the need for school counselling requires a proper recognition and all efforts need to be put together to
utilize this very important psychological skill in preventing and in responding to the various psychosocial needs of the
school children. The present paper seeks to review an emerging area of counselling in schools in India. The objectives of
the paper are, to stress the need for counselling in schools in India, to trace the history of school counselling in India, to
scrutinize the current position of counselling in the Indian schools, to analyse the norms to be laid down for the practice of
counselling in the schools in India. The method adopted is a review of literature.

Keywords: School counselling, career guidance, psychosocial problems, stress and strain.

Introduction ensure that all students graduate from high school ready to
succeed in college and careers.
Counselling as a profession is definitely a child of the western
countries. The Indian society with it’s strong family bonds and a The trained school counsellor must be an assertive
warm community feeling and spiritual essence has been advocate creating opportunities for all students to pursue dreams
providing the shock absorbers in times of crisis and a support of high aspirations. The counsellor assists students in their
system to deal with the various psychosocial issues. Perhaps, academic, career, social, and personal development and helps
this is one reason for the slow growth of the profession of them follow the path to success. The school counsellor serves
counselling in India. as a leader as well as an effective team member working with
teachers, administrators, and other school personnel to help each
In the recent years the Indian society seems to have undergone a student succeed. The school counsellor as consultant empowers
total metamorphosis with changing roles of women, a families to act on behalf of their children by helping parents and
breakdown of the joint family system, increased guardians identify student needs and interests, and access
competitiveness in schools, increased sociability of the children, available resources1.”
immense technological advances, peer and parental pressures
resulting in an environment laden with stress and strain for the According to “The American School Counsellors’
children. School counsellors seem to have appeared like a Association”: “A comprehensive school counselling program is
blessing to the students and the parents to cope with the developmental and systematic in nature, sequential, clearly
increased stress and strain and contribute towards maintaining defined, and accountable. It is jointly founded upon
the mental health of the younger generation. developmental psychology, educational philosophy, and
counseling methodology (ASCA, 1994). The school
What is School Counselling? counselling program is integral to the educational enterprise.
The program is proactive and preventive in its focus. It assists
Following are a few definitions of school counselling. all students in acquiring and using life-long learning skills.
More specifically, school counselling programs employ
As per Education Trust: “School counseling is strategies to enhance academics, provide career awareness,
a profession that focuses on the relations and interactions develop employment readiness, encourage self-awareness,
between students and their school environment to reduce the foster interpersonal communication skills, and impart life
effects of environmental and institutional barriers that impede success skills for all students. At the foundation of the school
student academic success. School counsellors foster educational counseling program is the delivery of counseling, consultation,
equity, access, and academic success in a rigorous curriculum to

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International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565
Vol. 3(3), 44-47, March (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.

coordination and advocacy services to all students, parents and of Education, Government of India, established the Central
the school community. Individual and group counselling, Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance in 1954. ii.
classroom guidance, consultation, including meeting with After the third five year Plan (1961), guidance services were
parents, teachers, administrators, staff and community members, initiated in schools by the trained counsellors and career masters
and coordination of special programs and initiatives are integral with assistance from school teachers. iii. By the end of the third
parts of all school counseling programs2.” five year plan (1966), the number of schools providing guidance
service in one form or the other was 3000.But these schools
Indian Institute of School Psychology has given the housed only a career master whose job was simply to provide
following definition of school counseling: School counselling vocational information. iv. With effect from the year 2000 the
is a unique and specialized profession worldwide with M. Sc Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance has
/PG Diploma in school counseling, who work in schools and delegated the work of guidance professionals’ training to the
because of this they are considered professional school Regional institutes of Guidance at Ajmer, Bhopal,
counselors and educators. They develop and implement a Bhuvaneshwar and Mysore. v. The main objective of the State
comprehensive, developmental program to facilitate the Educational and Vocational Guidance Bureaus is to assist
academic/learning skills, personal/social developmental skills students in the choice of suitable educational curricula and
competencies, spiritual care and understanding, and career career options5.
options counselling tasks, appropriate to the needs of pre-K-12
students. School counsellors have specialized training which Recent Developments
includes knowledge of human development, cultural diversity,
counselling and consultation and techniques, appraisal and As per an article in Times of India, Hyderabad edition: ‘The
assessment, career development, besides adequate tools to secondary education department is expected to issue a
identify, assess, evaluate behavior, social, emotional , learning government order making counselling centres manned by
difficulties and when needed make referrals of severe cases, of clinical psychologists mandatory in government and private
mental health to clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, schools6.
neurologists for treatment3.
As per an article by Gauree Malkarnekar published in The
School counselling is a profession which: i. aims primarily to Times of India, Goa edition: ‘The career counselling needs of
improve the academic performances of the students. ii. provides students will now be taken care of in their schools itself.
vocational guidance. iii. helps in social and personal Training shall be provided to one teacher each in all the
development of the students. iv. provides the much needed government and government aided schools by the ‘Goa
bridge between parents and students. v. functions in preventive, Education Development Corporation (GEDC)’ who will in turn
remedial and developmental modes. vi. functions to remove give guidance to the students about the courses of their interests
barriers to development if any, in the individual or in the and the institutes offering them in Goa and across the country 7.’
environment. vii. works to identify, assess , evaluate, solve or
refer , if necessary, problems of students which may be As per an article by Preetu Venugopalan Nair in
behavioural, emotional, social, academic or psychological. viii. Timesofindia / Education, Kochi edition: i. ‘As per a decision
Involves the team efforts of the teachers, the parents and other taken by the ‘Board of Governors’ of ‘Kendriya Vidyalaya
school staff. Sangathan’, the secondary and senior secondary classes of all
the Central Schools shall be equipped with an education
History of School Counseling in India counsellor. The counsellors shall have the responsibility of
dealing with low achieving, under achieving and high achieving
School counselling in India is a relatively young profession. An students apart from counselling students to face examinations
attempt is made here to trace the history of school counselling in without fear and help to instill in the students skills related to
India. study habits, time management, communication skills and stress
management. ii. As per a principal of a Kendriya Vidyalaya
As per an interview of Dr. BMC Shetty with Sudeshna "Conducting class surveys to know the career choice of students
Chatterjee in Indian Express entitled, `Schools are neglecting and providing career guidance to students based on the results of
counselling’, i. The first Child Guidance Clinic was started by an aptitude test and interest inventory is another major work that
Tata Institute of Social Sciences at Wadia hospital in 1938. ii. has been assigned to the counsellor." iii. It shall also be the
The Wadia hospital started a school health unit in the same year, responsibility of the counsellors to organise career related
which referred children with behavioural problems to the conferences and exhibitions, programmes entitled "meet the
hospital. iii. The first school mental health clinic was set up at professional" and to set up "career guidance corners" in schools.
Nair hospital in 19794. iv. Group guidance activities shall be carried out at least once a
week. v. As per the circular, individual counselling too may be
Asha K. Kinra also gives some of the important milestones in taken up by the teachers as far as possible8.
the development of school counseling in India. i. The Ministry

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International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565
Vol. 3(3), 44-47, March (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.

A Special Report by Mitra Neelanjana, Yasmeen Summiya, Roy India and the West, especially the US where it is mandatory to
Swati, Patil Anupama , T. Varoodhini in ‘Education World: provide professional counselling services, even in the public and
The Human Development Magazine’ throws ample light on the private schools. The IITs/IIMs are an exception to this. xii. In
various issues related to counseling in Indian schools. India, there is also a dearth of institutions (NIMHANS,
Bangalore and Bharathiar University, Coimbatore) offering
Some of the alarming facts and issues raised in the article are postgraduate and doctoral study programmes in student
reproduced here: i. The shocking suicide of Rouvanjit Rawla counselling. Usually, it is studied as only a subject in the Master
studying in class VIII of La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata of psychology degree programme of universities. xiii. Career
reportedly because he couldn’t bear the humiliation of corporal guidance and planning have been acknowledged only recently
punishment and a spate of student suicides have been widely as important to enhance the potential of the students and
reported in India’s commercial capital Mumbai. ii. The present maximise their contribution to society. It is also important that a
generation has to cope with the increasing social networking career counsellor should work in a scientific and culture-
websites, 21st century steel and glass malls and speed dating, resonant manner. However, the training facilities are quite
the heavy burden of excelling in school-leaving and entrance inadequate. xiv. There is an urgent need to provide counselling
exams has piled mountainous pressure on the nation’s 260 services to the 1,000,000-plus government schools, 509
million youth under 21 years. iii. The students have to adjust universities and 31,000 colleges of the country9.
with rampant consumerism, increasing use of drugs, sexual
abuse along with possible single parent families as a result of Findings
higher rates of divorce. iv. As per the majority of school
counselors ‘Education World’ correspondents spoke with across Need for counselling in schools in India: The big question in
the country, student strain and anxiety is mainly caused by the the minds of educators, policy makers and parents is whether
overwhelming unrealistic parental expectations and pressure to there is a real need for counseling in Indian schools. Are we just
score high grades in annual examinations. Millions of well- trying to ape the American mores and norms? Given the vast
meaning parents are pushing children into a continuous round of differences in the cultural and family structures of the Indian
private tuitions, intensive study sessions and cram schools. The society we need to assess whether there really is room for a
outcome is pervasive fear of failure, paranoia and chronic professional school counselor. Also, it is important to assess
depression among children. According to one estimate, in 2006- whether the Indian society is ready to accept the services of a
07 there were 5,857 exam-related suicides countrywide. And in counselor or is burdened with stigma towards this service. i.The
nine out of ten cases, the cause of this final act of desperation first finding of the study is that there is definitely a need for
was fear of parental wrath over sub-optimal academic counseling in schools in India. ii. This is evident with the
performance. v. Counselling services have also been extended to increasing number of suicide cases in the school students. iii.
the parents in certain cases as a result of the pushy parent Changing family trends such as working mothers, divorces,
phenomenon. vi. Majority of the parents are reluctant to single parent families have reduced the emotional cushioning
acknowledge that their children might need counselling. vii. provided so far by most of the Indian families. iv. Also, the
Counsellors give advice to the students to handle problems such immense technological advances, the increased social life and
as bullying, poor self-esteem, confrontation of parents about issues such as drug abuse have contributed to stress and strain
socialisation, loneliness and academic pressure. viii. The on the students.
method of one-on-one counselling is adopted for disturbed
children and the method of self-awareness workshops is adopted Types of counselling needs
for the students in general. ix. Counselling is tacitly
acknowledged as critical to delivering a stable and well- The educational field is a vast area with huge potential for
balanced educational experience in the boarding and counseling. The needs of the students are varied. There is an
international schools of India. With students living away from imminent need for counselling in the following areas:
home and the comforting presence of parents, pastoral care
assumes greater importance in residential schools. x. However, Academic success: i. The school counselors can help the
whereas the country’s 188,000 private day, boarding and students in realizing their highest potential. ii. They can help in
international primary-secondary schools are showing an removing blocks to academic success, if any.
awareness of the need to service the emotional well-being of
students, there’s little awareness about the value of counselling Career and vocational guidance: i. School counsellors can
within the government school network. India’s 135 million help by providing information on the various career and
children enrolled in 1.09 million government schools vocational options available. ii. School counsellors can guide
countrywide — despite having to bear with a plethora of the students in choosing the right career based on suitable
problems including teacher shortages and truancy, inadequate aptitude tests.
infrastructure and poor learning outcomes — seldom have
recourse to any form of counselling services or advice. xi. A Personal and Social development: i. The school counsellor
sharp contrast can be seen in the higher education institutions of helps to identify talents of the students and helps to nurture

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International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565
Vol. 3(3), 44-47, March (2014) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.

these talents. ii. The school counsellor helps in improving the counsellor works towards finding suitable remedies. ii. The
communication and interpersonal skills of the students. school counselor also engages in individual and group
developmental activities.
Resolving psychosocial problems: i. Stress, loneliness,
bullying, ragging, peer adjustments, parental and teacher Conclusion
pressure are some of the possible psychosocial problems of
students which can be resolved by a school counsellor. ii. In The area of school counselling in India is here to stay. Though
extreme cases, the counsellor may refer the students to a still in it’s infancy, it has great potential for growth. It can cater
psychologist, psychiatrist or other specialized personnel. to the emerging needs of the student community with
globalization, drastic changes in family structures, changing
Counselling for the parents: A very important revelation is social values leading to immense stress and strain on the
that the parents also need to be counselled. The student students. The specialized skills of the school counselor need to
counsellor may provide counselling to the parents on the be tapped to prevent, and treat increasing psychosocial problems
following issues: i. The necessity to accept the child as he is of the students and to provide a holistic development to the
with his strengths and weaknesses. ii. The ill effects of undue students.
pressure and stress on the child to excel academically. iii. The
interests and aptitude of the child and his suitability and choice This paper was presented in the ‘International Conference of the
of career. iv. Learning disabilities of the child, if any and the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, organised by
coping strategies. v. The psychosocial problems of the child, if Department of Psychology, Karnataka University, Dharwad
any and the coping strategies. vi. Removing the stigma attached from 22nd to 24th May, 2013.
to counselling.
References
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teachers and the school staff also need counselling to deal 1. The new vision for school counselling, The Education
effectively with the huge number of students coming from Trust, http://www.edtrust.org/dc/tsc/vision (2014)
diverse backgrounds and holding unique individualities. The 2. American School Counsellors’ Association,
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understanding of the futility of the Corporal Punishment. ii. (1997)
Understanding that each child is unique and accepting every
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Overall development of the students. interview with Sudeshna Chatterjee in Indian Express,
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establish itself in government schools, though there is news of a 8. Venugopalan Preetu Nair, Times of india / Education ,
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psychosocial problems detected after their onset, the school article-choice-more-id-2428 (2010)

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