SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Sept 21: Several schools in Ranchi do not have counselors and clinical psychologists to provide proper emotional and mental guidance to students. CBSE schools, despite guidelines, either don’t have any or not enough counselors, while ICSE doesn’t even have proper guidelines for the same in place.
Of the CBSE schools in Ranchi including Delhi Public School has one, Cambrian Public School has two, and Montfort School has one counselor for children. When questioned if it was a clinical psychologist or a counselor, most of the schools had only counselors.
Meanwhile, Holy Cross School officials claimed that they had one, but she has quit. Upon hiring someone, the school officials said they were ‘looking into it’. Similarly, officials at Ascot International also had a similar issue, wherein they had a counselor prior to lock down; however, they were not rehired after.
Schools like Firayalal Public Schools, however, stated that they don’t have counselors and that teachers act as counselors when needed.
On the other hand, officials in several ICSE schools claim that teachers act as counselors in schools. They may not be trained, and if they are, they are week-long training.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) guidelines have made the appointment of psychologists or counseling professionals mandatory for schools to have them onboard.
Notably, counseling is intended to appreciate a student’s achievement, improve student’s behavior and attendance, and help students develop mentally and emotionally; promote their participation in the activities taking place in their school.
When questioned of the importance of a counselor in schools, Dr Omi Singh, Psychologist and Psychotherapist at Curasia in Ranchi said, “Many K-12 school institutions appoint the professional counselors and Mental Health Expert on school staff board in order to share their support with the students who are undergoing some personal or educational challenges, guide students choose better careers and plan for further education, and get involved when students face communicative, physical, or mental health or behavioral challenges.”
She further said that as per CBSE guidelines, every school should have counselors on different levels including pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary levels. Every student should visit the counselor irrespective of a problem around 22 times in an academic year.
“However, schools in the city don’t pay attention to it. They get counselors, who are different from clinical psychologists that are better equipped to understand a situation and comment or try to change a pattern that the patient has fallen in. Clinical counselors diagnose the illness, not just the immediate reasons for the symptoms,” she added.
Dr Singh said that mental health issues in children and teens may manifest as changes in appetite and sleep patterns, unexplained aches and pains, loss of interest, mood swings, struggling with concentration, fatigue and irritability, staying aloof, sudden changes in behaviour and negative talks, which cannot be diagnosed by parents often.
“Parents think, the teen is acting like a teen, or a child is going through something, however, they fail to understand that it may be something that the child does not feel capable of talking about,” Dr Singh added.
Talking of her patients, she said, “I have had three-year-old patients, who would not swallow the food they chew. Another patient was bullied in school for his skin colour, so when he got back home, he tried for hours to rub off the dark shades of his skin by rubbing himself with a bar of soap.”
She further added, “Another teen patient I had, was going through his first break up and was in depression. He was not able to afford the sessions, so initially tried taking help from friends, but didn’t want to share it with his parents. He was dangerously close to hurting either himself or others. He received help, but only because he was aware enough.”
She added that there are hundreds in schools, but don’t know what to do. People supposed to help them in their schools are either ignorant and don’t see it or aren’t qualified enough. This is what increases the need for psychologists and clinical counselors in schools.
