Students need professional counseling, say experts

KOHIMA — There is an increasing need to focus on the emotional and psychological wellbeing of students, besides the normal routine, due to the complexities of modern life and mounting pressure to excel in academics, said Dr. Zavise Rume, Professor and Head, Guidance and Counselling Cell, SCERT, Nagaland.

Speaking at the one-day interaction workshop on school counseling and its future prospects in Nagaland held at SIEMAT Hall, SCERT, on Friday, Rume pointed out that student in the state didn’t need professional counselors in the past as parents could handle it because of the peaceful environment then.

People were quite ignorant then and counselling was not so demanding in Nagaland; they were also not aware that counselling could be used as an academic strategy to improve our performance and the quality of life, he said.

The professor added that counseling was once considered as problem-oriented activity where only those who have issues require the service but it’s a different story all together today.

Today, children are experiencing many complexities, stress, anxiety and tension besides the increasing pressure to perform well in academics due to stiff competition, he said, adding that there could also be issues like relationship crisis, love failure, crisis in career choice, substance abuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse, etc.

Further, there are many other serious emotional and psychological problems that school-going children are experiencing due to self-defeating thoughts, he added.

He said that teachers and parents are aware of the problems faced by students but they do not have the professional competence to deal with it, and this has resulted in the need for professional counseling services in Nagaland.

Counselling, the professor said, is in harmony with the goals of education to facilitate maximum personality development.

In view of this development, the SCERT, Nagaland, has introduced a one-year Diploma course in School Counselling (initially for a duration of nine months), with the primary objective of ensuring a professionally trained school counsellor in all educational institutions in the state, he said, adding that it the first SCERT in the country to introduce the course.

Counselling is now universally recognised as an integral part of school education for academic, career, personal-social, mental, psychological and emotional wellbeing of students, and the NEP 2020 envisages the availability of professionally trained counselors in every school, he said.

He further informed that the SCERT, Nagaland, has trained at least 105 school counselors so far. While urging schools in the state utilize this human resource, he also asked the trained school counselors to regularly provide counseling services to students.

High prevalence of suicidal thoughts

Kezhazolie Cornelius Mere, Chairman, Carl Rogers Institute of Mental Health and School Counselling (CRIMHSC), Kohima, also underscored the need for professional counselors in educational institutions, citing high prevalence of students with suicidal thoughts.

He said that they identified at least 200-250 students with suicidal tendencies during the week-long stress awareness programme held at CRIMHSC in May this year, where about 1,300 students from five schools attended. Besides this, he claimed that to have encountered more than 300 students with suicidal thoughts from just 6-7 schools and colleges in Kohima and Dimapur.

Expressing concern over the staggering prevalence rate of students with suicidal thoughts, he called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to tackle this prevailing challenge.

Also read: Naga society don’t talk about mental health issue–K Mere