Page 116 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Guidance and Counseling

Notes young grow into disciplined, mature adults and exhibit a conduct that is approved by society at
large. But this does not happen in a large number of cases, pointing to the fact that the guidance
needs of students have either not been met or have been ignored altogether. At the end of the
secondary school, the youth have the option to pursue academic careers or enter vocational schools
or trade schools or start working as relatively unskilled workers. At this stage, they have not acquired
any skills or proficiencies that can be traded. The society needs employable hands but when the
young persons leave school without acquiring any specific skills, they have nothings to offer and
only join the ranks of the unemployed. Unemployment is a very serious social problem and should
not be left to be solved in an arbitrary fashion or on the streets. The school should give sufficient
thought to the problems that are likely to arise and help solve them in a meaningful way. Some of
the aims of Personal guidance are to help the pupil :
1. Choose the curriculum which suits his/her abilities, interests and aspirations or goa1s optimally.
2. Acquire efficient study habits and practices which would enable him/her to achieve the desirable
levels of academic success.
3. Develop social interests and talents outside the academic field since the demands of life are
myriad and confusing.
4. Understand the purpose of education and the function of school in relation to his/her needs.
5. Develop his/her potentialities in areas of interest.
6. Develop vocational interests and an urge to work in the chosen vocation.
7. Enjoy his/her life at school through happy and rewarding interpersonal relationships with
teachers and other pupils.

How personal guidance is implemented at elementary school level ?

Educational guidance should be a continuous process at school. Each pupil must be helped to adjust
to the world of academic work and its demands by developing desirable curricular interests and
worthy life goals, cultivating efficient work habits, developing sound study skills and practices,
fostering desirable interpersonal relations, securing satisfactory mental health and acquiring a high
sense of moral. Failure is a serious concern of guidance. Teachers often refer pupils with unsatisfactory
academic grades to school counselors. But other pupils can also be significantly helped through
guidance. Guidance is the most important means to help young people develop into normal and
healthy individuals who are emotionally mature and who can make significant contribution to their
community.
At the high-school level, pupils have to be given vocational guidance in order to choose appropriate
occupations. All educational guidance implies vocational guidance. Occupational choices, like
curricular choices, are often made at home by parents or other elders. Young men and women are
hardly ever allowed to exercise their own will. The aim of educational guidance is to lead the
individual pupil from a state of dependence to a state of independent choice-making and action
(Naya Mam Paratantryat Swatantryam). The chosen occupation should be such that it suits the abilities
of the individual or else he/she will not be able to perform efficiently. If it is above one’s capacity,
the performance will be poor and the individual may be under severe pressure and tension. And if
the occupation is far below one’s capacity, it will lead to boredom, disgruntlement and dissatisfaction.
Again the result would be poor performance. An occupation must not only suit one’s ability but
must also be in tune with one’s aptitudes and interests. Psychologists like Maslow, Super and others
stress that an individual must find opportunities for self-actualization in one’s occupation, which
should help develop his/her self-image.

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