The status of guidance and counselling provision in selected Basic Schools in Mumbwa District
The purpose of the study was to investigate the status of guidance and counselling in seleted basic schools of Mumbwa District. The objectives of the study were to: establish the status of guidance and counseling in basic schools; determine the type of guidance and counseling services available in basic schools; establish the category of pupils who benefit most from guidance and counseling services in basic schools; and investigate challenges faced by the guidance and counseling teachers in the provision of guidance and counseling in basic schools. A survey approach was used to conduct this research. The sample size was 100 pupils and100 teachers in charge of guidance and counseling services in selected schools in Mumbwa District.The findings of this study were that: rural teachers provided guidance and counselling services; majority of pupils did not report their problems to guidance and counselling teachers but to their class teachers because they believed that the guidance and counseling teachers did not keep confidentiality; girls benefited more than boys from guidance and counseling services; grade 8 and 9 pupils benefited more than any other grade from guidance and counseling services; guidance and counseling teachers faced a lot of challenges in providing counselling services in basic schools which included non-availability of adequate guidance and counselling materials in schools for effective execution of duties, limited time allocated for counseling, lack of parental and community support, poor record keeping by the guidance and counseling teachers; lack of trained teachers in guidance and counseling, lack of office accommodation; lack of cooperation from pupils; influence of culture; and the lack of both male and female counsellors in schools to attend to pupils needs as some cases are so confidential that they cannot be presented to the opposite sex. The study recommended that: Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education should (i) employ trained full-time guidance and counselling teachers in schools (ii) provide appropriate and adequate materials for counseling purposes (iii) put in place a deliberate policy that would allow provision of guidance and counselling to lower grades in primary schools which is lacking at the moment.
Educational Counselling-Mumbwa, Zambia, Guidance Services-Primary Schools., Counselling Services-Primary Schools.
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