Counselling and School guidance (India): History in brief

By S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

From the review paper by Kodad and Kazi, it is known that according to an Indian Express interview with Sudeshna Chatterjee titled, 'Schools are neglecting to counselling, 

a) the first Child Guidance Clinic was founded by Tata Institute of Social Sciences at Wadia Hospital in 1938. 

b) In the same year, the Wadia hospital established a school health unit, which referred children with behavioral issues to the hospital. In 1979, the first school mental health clinic was founded at Nair Hospital.

Asha K. Kinra also discusses some of the significant turning points in India's school counseling progress. 

 a) In 1954, the Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance was created by India's Ministry of Education. 

b) Following the third five-year plan (1961), certified counselors and career masters, with the help of school teachers, began providing guidance services in classrooms. 

c) By the end of the third five-year plan (1966), 3000 schools offered some kind of guidance. However, these schools only had a career master on staff, whose sole responsibility was to provide vocational knowledge.

d) The Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance has assigned the task of training guidance professionals to the Regional Institutes of Guidance in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhuvaneshwar, and Mysore, with effect from the year 2000. 

e) The primary goal of the State Educational and Vocational Guidance Bureaus is to assist students in selecting appropriate educational programs and career paths.

A review article by Kanchan Godara (Ph.D. Research scholar, MGS University, Bikaner, Rajasthan (India)) gives us an insight into the history of school counseling in India. 

Calcutta University, which founded India's first psychological laboratory in 1915, has the honor of being the first to introduce the guidance movement in India. With the help of a psychologist named Mr. Mukerjee from Calcutta, Baltiboi, a retired accountant from Calcutta, realized the importance of guidance in 1915, and he founded the 'Baltiboi Vocational Guidance Bureau' in Bombay with the sole purpose of providing guidance to the community. Patna University founded a psychological service and research department in 1945. The Parsi panchayat vocational guidance bureau was founded for the Parsi community in Bombay by trustees of the Parsi panchayat funds and properties. The government of Uttar Pradesh took another step forward in 1947 when it officially recognized the movement by establishing a psychology bureau in Allahabad. The Bombay Government created the vocational guidance bureau in Bombay in 1950, which was later renamed the 'Institute of vocational guidance bureau' in 1957. Dr. W.L. Barnett, an American educator, hosted a workshop for guidance workers around the country in 1953. Delhi's Central Institute of Education This institute is now the Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance in Delhi (CBEVG).

The bureau of educational and vocational guidance (CBEVG) is currently being established at the CIE in Delhi as part of a government-sponsored scheme. This department keeps track of the country's guidance services on a regular basis. The data is gathered by the use of a questionnaire. NCERT has been conducting periodic status surveys to gather knowledge about the guidance bureaus/cells. Guidance and therapy cells are formed at the state level under regional SIERTs. The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA 2012), a government of India initiative aimed at universalizing secondary education at the secondary and higher secondary levels, places a strong focus on guidance and mentoring to achieve the aims of universalizing secondary education, quality challenges, and secondary education development In order to provide guidance and counseling services to school students, the RMSA has prioritized the strengthening of state-level guidance departments, the appointment and use of qualified guidance staff, and in-service training and orientation programs.

For a long time in India, school guidance facilities have been left in the hands of school teachers who are already overworked and lack experience in the field of guidance and counseling. Recent changes in Indian education, particularly the potential for free and universal education, have resulted in a new set of issues in schools and across the country.

Many kids go to school with no idea what they're going to do, and they leave with no idea what kind of jobs or occupations they should pursue. They still have limited knowledge of themselves as well as their socio-economic and political surroundings.

NCERT's 8th AISES study summarises the current state of education and vocational guidance and counseling (EVGC) in the country. Educational and technical guidance and counseling (EVGC) services are provided to students by 39,799 (33.94 percent) secondary schools and 29,604 (47.24 percent) higher secondary schools in the country.

However, these figures are merely figures; in fact, guidance and therapy in schools are given by regular school teachers; no licensed guidance counselors are present. Professional counselors are available at only a few colleges.

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