A sociological study on counselling services in pre-university colleges

Counselling is as old as the society itself.  No civilization can remain buoyant and can move ahead without good guidance, mental health and spiritual help. In contemporary present-day life, counselling is seen in different aspects and sphere. It is considered as a vital part of the educational curriculum. This paper focuses on the study and scenario of the profession of counselling in educational institutions in India. Objectives- To analyse the counselling services in the Pre-university colleges. To study the awareness level of the services of counselling among the students. Sample – Sample consisted of 300 students selected from 30 Pre-university colleges of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The age group of the sample was 16 to 18 years, the adolescents. Structured questionnaire was the adopted tool to collect primary data from the sample. Results- Only 4 colleges out of the sample 30 colleges had counselling facilities available to address the needs of the students, and they are self-financed colleges or private institutions. Among the sample none of the Government nor the Government aided colleges had provision for counselling facilities to their students. Conclusion: Counselling facilities from professional counsellors are not available in most of our educational institutions. To address the various psychological, emotional needs of the present-day youth and their well-being trained counsellors and counselling facilities can act as an effective balm in nurturing the students of our country in a more effective and balanced way.