COUNSELING OF STUDENTS AT SCHOOL LEVEL

Guidance and counseling is an important part of education at every level, especially at school level. Gaurav Goswami talks about the ever increasing need for appropriate counseling and guidance of school students in India.

A quick look back

In India schools are considered as the temple of learning and education is the preparation of life. In the past, Indian society with its strong family bonds, warm community feeling and spiritual essence has been working as a buffer in times of crisis and a support system to deal with various psycho-social issues. But, in recent times the Indian society have gone through a sea of changes from, the changing role of women, to a breakdown of the joint family system, rise in divorces, to increase in competitiveness in schools, rise in sociability of the children, increased technological advances, and peer and parental pressure, that have resulted in the formation of an environment that is loaded with stress and strain for students to deal with.    

Essence of education

Aim of education is the all-round development and harmonious adjustment of an individual in various aspects of student’s life. If this is to be achieved then education is not limited to imparting knowledge as the duty of a teacher, and accumulating knowledge as the duty of a student. Thus for self realization of the student guidance and counseling is needed. In short school counseling helps in reducing the effect of environmental and institutional barriers that impedes a student’s academic success.

History of school counseling

School counseling in India is relatively new. The first Child Guidance Clinic was started by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences at Wadia Hospital in 1938. The Wadia hospital also started a school health unit the same year, which referred children with behavioral problems to the hospital. The Ministry of Education, Government of India established the Central Bureau of Education and Vocational Guidance in 1954. After the 3rd five year plan; 1961, guidance services were initiated in schools by the trained counselors and career masters with assistance from school teachers. 1966 onwards the number of schools providing guidance service in one form or the other rose to 300. From the year 2000 the Central Bureau of Education and Vocational guidance has delegated the work of guidance professionals training to the regional institute of Guidance at Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhuvaneshwar and Mysore.   

Need for guidance

At adolescence the student must know about his/her capacities, potential, and job opportunities after higher studies, about the expenses towards higher education, availability of scholarships and the places of admission etc. The student needs guidance for right selection of courses of studies and personal guidance for his/her problems. Even if many students may have educated adults for assistance, but may be reluctant to approach them. In some families the parents or elders may be uneducated. There may be instances where parents and elders at home are busy with their own professional lives, and the adolescents are left without any help and in some cases without love and affection. Unfortunate students face heterosexual problems, which they cannot discuss with parents. Apart from these problems, students do not know the method of studying, the right method of preparing for the examination, how to allocate leisure time, and how better to adjust with siblings at home and with peer group at school. Guidance is needed not only for the adolescent in problems, but also for gifted students. Guidance is also needed to check the dropout from school, to minimize the incidents of indiscipline. For the adolescents who lack a sense of direction, purpose and a sense of fulfillment, guidance is needed.

Lot of work needs to be done

There is a better need to enhance the school counseling field in India. Plus awareness towards emotional and behavioral adjustment needs of students and its associations with academic performance should be created among the teachers, parents, educators, administrators and community.

I end this article with a question ‘what is the aim of counseling?’

The following tries to point out what counseling aspires for-

• ·         To bring about the desired change in the individual for self realization.
• ·         To provide assistance to solve problems through an intimate personal relationship.
• ·         To achieve positive mental health.
• ·         To help students to make proper and satisfactory adjustments for improved academic pursuits and useful life.

WHAT CAN MODERN EDUCATION, LEARN FROM VEDIC EDUCATION SYSTEM?

No one can be called educated who cannot preserve and expand his/her cultural heritage. In this article I try to explain how Vedic style of education can be incorporated into modern education system, in a way, that benefits both the student and the teacher, which in turn benefits India.

What is education?

Culture is the sum total of the accumulated experience and achievements of previous generations inherited by succeeding generations as member of society. And, the structured process of passing on this collective experiences and achievements may be called education. The function of schools is not only to make students knowledgeable, but also to make them cultured, because education develops student’s ideal nature by giving them a moral feeling and enables them to control their original animal nature. So, the ultimate aim of education should not only be to full fill the desire of life, but to also make the student fit to become a useful member of society.   

Falling morals in today’s students

We are living in an age of rapidly scientific and technological changes, which nonetheless have many positive effects on different social groups and across different societies. Much has changed, but one thing that has not changed is imparting knowledge through learning, which is a never ending process. The sad part in all of this is that, modern students are not morally perfect and behave irresponsibly. The reason for this may be that, students are affected directly or indirectly by the social evils such as: idleness, egotism, poverty, sexual disability, materialistic appeals, evil practices, corruption, decline in moral values and destructive politics. This is where Vedic style of education can help, as it has tendency to change the minds and character of the students.  

Gurukuls

In ancient India, the gurukuls; where students resided at guru’s place, were dedicated to achieve the highest ideas to complete student’s development that included physical, mental, spiritual development as well as God realization. The gurukuls were situated at beautiful natural places which were near some rural or urban area to fulfill the daily necessary requirements of the students. This system was free from any sort of consideration of rich and poor, caste and creed, higher or lower etc. Even the children of both rulers and peasants stayed together, and state politics do not interfered in this education system. The students used to seek alms everyday form different houses. They shared their alms with their teacher, and that is how a gurukuls was managed. The society had a lot of reverence to students who were seeking alms for their education.  

Teacher

The pivot of the whole education system of ancient India was teacher. He is also called as acharya, guru and upadhyana on the basis of the function he performed. Acharya is one who performs the upanayana; which marks the acceptance of a student by a teacher. A guru is one who perform the samskaras; mental impression, recollection in Indian Philosophy and Indian religion. And, upadhyana is who teaches a student a portion of the Vedas. The education was mainly through ears and lips and not through writing and reading. This was because writing was considered as inferior, and education through ears and lips had the power to develop cognition, intelligence and strong memory. The subjects that were taught were: religion, ayurveda, vaishaishika, economics, archery, justice, reasoning among others. There was the provision of free education, but after the completion of education money, land, animals, grains etc was given as daksina; it is not a fee, but sort of donation. They treated the student with care, respect, trust and duty. Punishment was given, but was not harsh.      

Student

A prospective student had to convince the teacher that, the student, had the required intelligence, desire, determination and qualities to pursue the studies. The age to begin education was usually eight to twelve, and the time period for studying was twelve years and a student could study only one Veda in that period. The classes were held in the shade of trees and under some shelter during monsoon to ensure that the students are in touch with nature which benefited their physical and mental development. There were certain rules for the students to adhere regarding their daily lives such as: to lead a simple life, wake up early before the day breaks, get freshened up and take bath, and then worship God, and perform havan etc. The students could eat food twice a day. They were asked to follow the rules of self control and discipline. The students have great respect for their teachers and treated them as their parents and King.

Where have we lost it?

Long before the British rule gurukuls were the preferred from of education, even in the time of Mughal rule; 1556-1707  its peak years, to the later years when Mughal power dwindled till the eventual arrival of British rule, gurukul system existed and flourished. During the colonial times, the British imported their centralized system of industrial era education while systematically de-emphasized the importance and usage of Vedic education system. The modern education system is India is established by British, introduced by Lord Thomas Macaulay in 1830 and later by Wood’s Magna Carta of Indian education in 1854. Teaching was confined to the class rooms, connection with nature was broken and the close relationship between student and teacher was also lost. It was left to Dayananda Saraswati; the founder of Arya Samaj and Swami Shraddanand, to pioneer the modern gurukul system, they founded Dayananda Anglo-Vedic Public School and Universities in 1886 A.D. Then in 1948 Shastriji Maharaj Dharanjivan Das Swami initiated the first Swaminarayan Gurukul in Rajkot, Gujarat. But sadly, instead of following its own roots the modern education system of independent India carried on the track of Western style of Education, which is based on text books and examination. The teacher lost their right to decide what to teach and how to teach. This type of educational practice eventually narrows the area of knowledge, because to pass exams students just needed to memorize the contents, without understanding it properly.    

Need of the hour

In present times where the news of school shootings, drug addictions, overexposure to sex, smoking, alcoholism, incidents of rape, committing suicide at a very young age and showing disrespect toward elders and others are common. Incorporating Vedic education; which is the core of India’s culture and rich heritage, in the modern education system will help the student to achieve the following benefits: ideal of perfect mastery over senses, to erect the ideal of truth, liberty, equality, peace and unity. This will intern help in bringing back the true essence of guru-shishya tradition in the modern education system, because the ultimate aim of Vedic system of education is the development of personality and character of the student. And correct the prevailing wrong precedent, which is, ‘education in India is linked sorely to employment.’   

SINGLEHOOD - A FUTURE FOR MEN!

Does getting married make a man happier, healthier, and more integrated into society? Let’s look at the relevant question bothering the ‘modern man.’

Motivation of men

Men are motivated by 3Fs: freedom, fame and fortune, and men who prefer to stay single are ruled by the first of these three Fs; freedom. It doesn’t in any way mean that for single men the other two, fame and fortune, are not important. Actually, they are very important, but the only difference is that single men lean mostly towards ‘self’ freedom. A single man would rather stay single than have a woman strap him down, because he loves his freedom and his independence more than any other thing. One thing which is vital for society to understand is that for a man to be single ‘isn’t selfish,’ it is just giving priority to his needs. 

What studies talk about?

The studies that support the claim that married men are doing better are biased because they want to make the married man look better and portray the single man’s life as worse. What these studies fail to highlight is that, sometimes it is the lifelong single, rather than the currently married, which are doing best. In other studies, it is the single that is the healthiest. Then there are studies which highlight previous single getting married, and staying married – they end up no happier than they were when they were single. In other words – getting married is no sure way to happiness and health. 

Stigma attached to single man

Unfortunately, single man’s life continues to be stigmatized, with single man stereotyped as less secure and more self centered than married man. Society normally labels single men as, ‘they will die sooner, alone and sad.’ There is also a notion that among society which assume single men to be unsociable, unattractive, or immature. These thinking are way of the mark because in reality many single men are charismatic and responsible.

Widespread singlehood

The number one reason why the modern men prefer to remain single is that – these men have difficulty flirting or are unable to impress the opposite sex, because most men are not even taught how to attract, date and maintain relationships with others. On top of that we live in a society that tends to have an expectation that ‘if you are an awesome enough person, things should fall into place.’ Nothing is more wrong and farther from the truth; either in life or for that matter in case of love. In the time gone by marriage were strictly arranged, which in a respect left men with little choice about who would be their wives, it also meant that their looks were irrelevant and they did not need to know how to attract women, all that was needed of them was to have the know-how of earning money to run the house. Sometimes single men’s work takes first priority, and they happily distribute much of their time to it; this leaves no time for a relationship. A man remain single because he is detailed oriented and tend to look at every little detail of a person through his perspective, and may analyze everything, thus if something makes him feel suspicious about someone, he won’t give the other person a chance anymore, that is why intelligent single men always weighs the pros and cons of why they should fall in love with another person, especially if they can be just fine by themselves. One more reason is that many single men don’t like any drama in their lives; most women love to create drama, so single men who love to be more productive, think of having a relationship as a hindrance in their life and in their success. Another reason is the fear of marriage; single men see marriage as a risk: emotional, financial and psychological.       

Singlehood is a good 

The rise in number of single men has left some in panic, but wait that is not the whole story; actually the percentage of single men is more than married men who are known for encouraging, helping and socializing with friends and neighbors. They are also more likely to visit, support, advice and stay in touch with their siblings and parents. Married men often put their spouse and kids at the centre of their lives; this behavior is perfectly fine and is also expected of them. On the other hand, single men are expanding the traditional boundaries of family. They are keeping their families, and are also putting their friends, ex-partners and mentors in their circle of family. Some men may even have committed romantic relationship, but chose to live in a place of their own. These individuals might move into their own apartment, where their friends and family are also living. They may buy a duplex with a close friend or explore co-housing communities or pocket neighborhood; which are communities of small houses clustered around shared space such as courtyard or garden. Single men are free to do what they want without having to consider a spouse’s desire; they enjoy more autonomy of their own life. Another benefit is that single men are not locked into family responsibility and obligation; they consequently can be more mobile and flexible in the climb up the career ladder. Single men tend to participate in more civic group and public events, enroll in more art and music and other self improvement classes. Single men are constantly on the lookout of finding and creating new variety of different life spaces. These examples should be a call for rejoicing, rather than doom and gloom.

Usher a new beginning

As the potential for living a full and meaningful single life for man becomes more widely known, then living single will become more of a genuine choice. And when living single is a real choice then the modern man will chose life that suits him, rather than the one that is prescribed by society.