CHENNAI: The need for counselling is tremendous today for all students and not just the ones who go astray. As stress is too much, students should not hesitate to seek support from their parents, teachers and peers. They should also keep their eyes and minds open to see if their peers need support, said Pooja Kulkarni, State Project Director, Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan (SSA), Tamil Nadu.
She said this during a national conference on ‘psychological skill development among students of higher education’ held at Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai.
Pooja Kulkarni said counselling for adolescence should begin in schools itself. “The conference might be for students in higher education, but none of these would mean much if we don’t start this when the child is in school,” she said adding that
“Earlier when we went to school it was more about gathering information, gaining knowledge and trying to apply in the manner we do best. Today’s education is not about gathering information or knowledge. As we have all the information you want at the tip of your finger. We need a smart phone. Most critical input today and the output is how do you apply that knowledge and information that you gather.”
Education is not about learning, but understanding the concept, the content and analysing it. This is the skill we need to develop, she said.
She said the need for counselling is tremendous today. Counselling is essential for the development of child himself or herself. Children are getting exposed to so much information in media,” she said adding it is required to ensure that students develop skills to distil these information correctly. One cannot prevent a child from accessing information. “We can empower the child and feed the right kind of information and apply and also to understand if the child doesn’t understand the information properly where should it go, who to approach. This is where the role of the teachers and parents come,” she said.
She said their role in future and today is what is determined by psychological aspects of our understanding. “There are a lot of your peers going through anxiety and you yourself are going through. How you recognise what your peers are going through. What support you seek from your parents and teachers, is what make your lives smoother.
Kiran Devendra, Professor and head (Retired), Department of Elementary Education, NCERT, New Delhi, said school plays a very important role, so do parents.” The most important skill that we need to develop in children as parents and teachers is confidence. Self esteem is very important as an young professional. In order to ensure a meaningful skill development takes place, teachers should prepare and go to classes and make eye contact with students and see who is interested and who is not.”
“Students should explore things on their own and become more knowledgeable than teachers,” she said.