Role of Counseling In Increasing Progress Rate of Students With Lower Progress Rate-A Case Study of Secondary Schools of Bhopal City

1. INTRODUCTION

The school plays an important role in enhancing educational competence as well promoting psycho-social development of children and adolescents. Today’s children have to cope with heavy syllabi and stress of examinations, often manifesting psychosomatic complains, problems of sleep and appetite, behaviour problems and declining performance, as signs of stress. Parents are facing their own problems, and when they face problems related to school performance and behaviour of their children, they often approach teachers for help. Thus, teachers have to play the added up role of guiding parents. Given proper orientation and training, they can help many such parents and their children. From the perspective of parents, teachers, administrators and guidance-counsellors, it is not only the low achievement but also the students themselves are serious problems to be dealt with. because, the low-achievers often create problems like juvenile, hostility, aggressiveness etc. in schools and societies. They are labeled as the 'difficult' the 'problematic' and the 'trouble-makers'. Students with learning problems are often looked down as intellectually inferior, inadequately and improperly crested to books and study. Many are labeled by their parents and teachers as 'useless', 'stupid1, or 'dull'. Low achievement is a maladjusted behavior which indicates that everything is not all right wj.th the individuals. The students who fail to ree.ch their expected maximum and those who have behavioural problems need help to become fully developed, fully functioning and fully happy. However, the problem of low-achievement cannot be successfullytackled without first tackling the situations which lead to it-Hence, the first step to be taken is to find out the cruciaproblems that the low-achievers are faced with and thecauses of low- achievement. The reasons for low-achievement may be different fordifferent individuals because children are the product ofmany combinations of social, material and culturaenvironments, and the development of intelligence andacademic progress depends much on heredity andenvironment. Psychologists, as well as educators haverealized the influence of certain factors on the academicachievement in school subjects. The present study is anattempt to identify some of these factors which have anegative impact on achievement, and to give assistance tot.he low-achievers to overcome their problems. The; family,for example, is thought to be a very significant andindispensable influence in the young child's training and inhuman development. It is considered to be one of the maineducational agencies. It is, therefore, necessary to know thefamily background of the counsellees. Certain questions, connected to low-achievernent havebeen constantly bothering the researcher. For example, canachievement be explained simply by the individual problemsof the students and the family environment? Should thestudents alone be blamed for the low achievement? Doesthe educational system play a negative part in producingthe low-achievers? Dees the type of school lave aninfluence on the academic performance of the students?

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The knowledge of the educational and family background serves only to understand the problems of the low-achievers. It is, therefore, necessary to proceed to the second stage of the research which is an investigation to find out the study habits and study skills, academic motivation and self-concept of the low-achievers and how far the ill-health is a hindrance in the better perfornar.ee of academic work and so forth.The third stage of the exploration, which is the core of this thesis, consists in finding out the effectiveness of counselling. Some questions are asked to direct the search. Is guidance and counselling effective in dealing with the low-achievers, to minimize the problem of low-achievement and to foster a healthy attitude towards learning? Is it an effective treatment to acquire proper study habits and study skills, to increase academic motivation, to foster positive self-concept and to improve their academic achievement? Which is more effective: individual or group counselling? How often should counselling be conducted in order to be effective? Does the effect of counselling depend on I. The effect of counselling does not depend on the counsellor alone. To help the students become fully developed persons is the duty of parents, teachers, administrators and of guidance- counsellors. Hence, a cooperative effort is required of them. The guidance-counsellor is expected to give assistance to the teachers and administrators in matters regarding classroom teaching, study- skill development, assessment of strengths and weaknesses etc. Another question that bothered the researcher is: what suggestions can the researcher, who is a guidance-counsellor and a teacher, offer to make: education relevant and appropriate to low-achievers?

 The term “Guidance and Counselling” will be used in the context of life long learning and refers according to the definition of the Council of the European Union: o "information, guidance and counselling services" refers to services intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers  “Guidance and Counselling” includes a wide range of activities:  activities within schools to help students clarify career goals and understand the world of work  personal or group-based assistance with decisions about initial courses of study, courses of vocational training, further education and training, initial job choice, job change, or work force re-entry  computer-based or on-line services to provideinformation about jobs and careers or to helpindividuals make career choices; and services toproduce and disseminate information about jobs,courses of study and vocational training. o It includes services provided to those whohave not yet entered the labour force,services to job seekers, and services tothose who are employed

 “Guidance helps to build confidence and toempower individuals as well as making peopleaware of new career possibilities, including civic,leisure, learning and work opportunities andpromotes the balance of life and work  It promotes employability and adaptability byassisting people to make career decisions both onentering the labour market and on moving within it.  enable citizens to manage and plan their learningand work pathways in accordance with their lifegoals,  assist educational and training institutions to havewell motivated pupils, students and trainees whotake responsibility for their own learning and settheir own goals for achievement  assist enterprises and organisations to have welmotivated, employable and adaptable staff, capableof accessing and benefiting from learningopportunities both within and outside the workplace  assist in the development of societies, in whichcitizens actively contribute to their social anddemocratic development  career education has an important role to playwithin education in laying the foundations forlifelong career development  guidance and counselling are particularly important in post compulsory education. Here, wider curriculum choice results in more diverse and complex routes into later stages of education, into employment, or into both. This can help to: reduce dropouts from and back-tracking within education systems, and thus improve internal flows  improve flows between different levels of education, thus raising national levels of educational attainment  improve transitions from education to the labour market These outcomes help to make better use of educational resources, and to increase both individual and social returns to investments in education

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The school counseling program is based on a foundation of beliefs that serve as the guiding principles for the design and management of the school counseling program

The school counseling program employs a data-based system to provide accountability for a) Student improvement in achievement (in conjunction with all other school Programs), b) Student improvement in targeted student choices, c) Student mastery of targeted guidance indicators, and d) student improvement in targeted personal and social areas influencing learning.

The school counseling program helps students master knowledge and skills in the areas of academic, career, and citizenship development to become successful learners, productive workers, and responsible citizens in a global society.

The school counseling program helps students overcome personal and social challenges that interfere with learning

School counselors and the school counseling advisory council advocate for policies, programs, procedures, and practices that support high achievement for all students.

School counselors provide management activities that support the program’s guidance, counseling, and advocacy initiatives.

School counselors maintain professionalism in their practice and disposition.

The school counseling program is supported by adequate resources.

The school counseling program is continuously improved.

The achievement of those in the field of education in achieving total literacy and in enrolling students for Primary and Secondary education is remarkable. This achievementis important. But what happens to the enrolled students?The achievement of every enrollment and quality ofeducation needs to be explored. The importance of thestudy is that it gives insight into the problems of thestudents with low achievement rate of the secondary schoostudents.

The present study was delimited to Govt. and Privateschools of Bhopal district.

There was significant positive role of individual counselingas well as group counselling in increasing progress rate ofstudents with lower achieving rate.The role of counselingwas not effected by frequency of counseling sessions.

The subjects will be 180 secondary school boys and girls,selected from different govt. and private schools of Bhopadistrict. They were chosen on the basis of poor academicperformance. 10 schools were selected for study whichconsists of both Govt. and private co-education schools.Students were divided into three groups namely:- A- Group A students were be go through 6 counsellingsessions. B-Group B students were be go through 3 counsellingsessions. C-Group C students were not received any speciatreatment.

Data will be collected from samples through:-  The Grade-Point-Average (GPA) The teacher-made test was preferred over standardized testbecause the purpose of the study was to measureclassroom performance.

 Questionnaire on academic motivation.  Self-concept inventory.  Counselling interview with the counselees.  Observations.

 I. Q..

The present study reveals a statistically significantcorrelation at 1% level or 5% level between the effects ofcounselling on:

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a) SHSK and motivation of Groups 8 and C. b) SHSK and self-concept of Groups A, B and C. c) SHSK and academic achievement of Groups A and C. Motivation and self concept of Groups 8 and C. Self-concept and academic achievement of Groups A and C. Though statistically not significant a positive ootre}ation exists between the effects of counseling on all the 4 variables under study. A statistically significant correlation exists between the effects of counselling on study habits and study skills (EHSKj and self-concept of all the counselled qrojps. No statistically significant correlation exists between the; effects of counselling on motivation and academic achievement of any of the counselled groups. A positive correlation without statistical significance exists between the effects of counselling on academic motivation and academic achievement of all the counselled groups.

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