Emerging Area of Counseling among Adolescent School Children

Abstract

The purpose of any education system to promote optimum development of students in all spheres – educational, vocational, personal, social, moral, physical etc. so as to make them productive and useful citizens. Counseling in harmony with the goals of education, aims to facilitate maximum personal development of children in all spheres of life. Adolescence is the most decisive period in a man’s life and that no stone should be left unturned in creating a congenial atmosphere to help enable the adolescents to make a smooth journey through this stormy and turbulent phase of life. The task ahead is herculean and could be accomplished only through the concerted efforts of all the agencies and at different levels - the family, the school and the Government. Academic stress, violence including bullying, sexual permissiveness, easy drug availability and abuse, social rift are some of the major issues which a youth has to contend with, in this rapidly changing Indian social scenario. The need for school counseling 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 adolescent school children. The present paper seeks to review the importance of adolescent counseling in school setting in India. The objectives of the paper are, to stress the need for adolescent counseling in schools, to scrutinize the current position of counseling in the Indian schools, to analyse the role of a school counselor in dealing with adolescents.

Keywords: School Counseling, Adolescents, Psychosocial Problems, Stress and Strain