Counselling essential in schools

Students receive guidance during a workshop in Kampala recently. Counselling experts say schools should offer counseling to learners because they spend the biggest percentage of time with them. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA

What you need to know:

  • The struggle for good grades is fast sweeping most schools, leaving out other essentials for good learning such as counselling.
  • Yet, for a learner to be perform well, they must be in a good state of mind.

Today, most schools have concentrated more on producing good grades, hence neglecting other fundamental aspects of life. Besides education, schools are expected to groom morally-upright children. It is therefore, important for schools to carry out counselling and guidance sessions to teach students about other aspects of life and guide them on emotional and personal conflict, which could affect their studies. This can be done by teachers, guest speakers, and peer educators, among others.

Margaret Tumusiime, a counselling psychologist at Girl Talk Uganda, a non-governmental organisation that offers counselling and guidance in schools, notes that students also have personal and psychological problems and need counselling for a positive change. She notes that since children spend 70 per cent of their time at school and only about 30 per cent at home, teachers need to play a bigger role in shaping them.
At Buhinga Primary School for instance, George Tinka Byamukama, the head teacher, notes that the school has a separate room, specifically for counselling. The senior woman and senior man teachers handle the problems.

“We also hold general counselling sessions frequently where pupils raise issues affecting them and have them addressed,” he adds.
According to Ketra Nalwoga, a senior woman teacher at Nyakasura School, constant counselling has helped their students make more informed decisions, behave well and relate healthily with the opposite sex since it is a mixed school.

Enhancing discipline
Faruk Kabugo, a teacher at Kyaliwajala Umea Primary School, notes that school is a training ground for character and through counselling, students are taught how to behave while at school, respect one another and elders, hence improving their social development.
He says beating children is not a solution anymore as talking to them does more impact.

Sex education
Sex education is vital to a growing child and adolescents need to be empowered on how to relate with the opposite sex. “Sometimes students have unanswered questions to which they get wrong answers from peers. Counselling sessions would help them get right answers and guidance on how to go about certain issues,” Kabugo notes.

Psychological issues
Sometimes students have psychological problems that might affect their studies, which teachers may not pay attention to. Some students behave badly as a cry for help, such as trauma from sexual harassment, domestic violence, and rape, among others.
Annet Nakazibwe, a teacher, notes that counselling would make these children open up about their problems, without fear hence finding solutions.

Career guidance
Tumusiime adds that some students choose subjects to study when they are ill-prepared for them. She notes that career guidance helps students make informed decisions about their career. “We also teach them how to reach their goals and succeed,” she adds.

Informed decisions
Some students do not think about the outcome of the decisions they make. We see grownups who speak without thinking of the effects of their words on others, some make wrong decisions and regret later. “We, therefore, use counselling sessions to teach students when and how to act,” notes Nalwoga.

Improves self-esteem
Confidence and self-esteem are built through counselling sessions. Students learn to express themselves freely. It also enhances personal development as students learn to make bold decisions.

Talk about health
Health issues may be on the syllabus but they are not elaborative. Counselling will help students learn about reproductive health and menstrual health issues, which affect adolescents. Experts such as doctors or school nurses can be used to handle the technical bit.

Student-teacher relationships
Sharon Gimono, a teacher, notes that every teacher needs students to confide in them for easy management. “Counselling sessions, therefore, help us get closer to the students and be of more help to them. Teachers should not wait for special days to talk to their students, you can do it the first or last 10 minutes of your lessons,” she says.

Learn your students
Tumusiime notes that sometimes teachers judge students without knowing the reason behind their behaviour. you may beat a child for dosing in class yet it is because he did not have food or they are sick. Talking to the students first will help a teacher get the different ways to handle them.

Get the skills
Margaret Tumusiime, a counselling psychologist at Girl Talk Uganda, a non-governmental organisation, says teachers should read broadly or study a counselling course to improve their skills because some of them mislead students in the name of counselling them. She also notes that before getting people from outside to talk to students, schools should first do a background check and be sure they are bringing right people with experience. “There is an instance a student told me a counsellor who had gone to their school advised her to abort but good enough her parents discovered before she did,” Tumusiime reveals.