Background of the Study
In recent time, attention has been given to the field
of Guidance and counselling with many people showing greater interest to
specializing in the field and thus, study the
subject at both Masters and Ph.
D. levels in various universities within Nigeria and abroad, with a view to
providing Guidance and Counselling Services to the society especially in
schools.
Guidance and Counselling generally aims at assisting
individuals to understand, accept and use his abilities, aptitudes and
interests to achieve his goals and aspirations (Odoemalan & Uwani, 2009).
The new interest, therefore, remains a welcomed development considering the
trend of unstable home, poor academic performance, drug abuse, high risk, sexual
exploitation, cultism, kidnapping et cetera, which have nowadays taken a very
terrible dimension in our secondary schools (Mogbo, Obumneke & Anyachebelu,
2011).
In realization of this, the Federal Government has in
the National Policy on Education (2004) stated that it is desirable to provide
“Guidance and Counsellors in each post primary schools in Nigeria."
Though such effort is made to some extent, there is
the general outcry, that the Guidance and Counselling centers in our secondary
schools do not effectively provide the much-needed services to achieve
fundamental goal of facilitating personal development of the
individual/students and in making choices, adjustment and solving the problems
they encounter in teaching and learning situations.
Reasons for each weakness and challenges of the
Guidance and Counselling Services in our secondary schools are multifaceted.
Against this background, this study seeks to investigate the challenges of
Guidance and Counselling in secondary schools from the teachers’ and students’
perceptions.
Statement of the Problems
The success or otherwise of any policy or program be
it in school, is highly determined by a number of factors prominent among which
is the motivation and conducive working atmosphere provided to the
implementation of such policy or program. Guidance and counselling in
particular, is a program, which requires a lot of motivation and an enhanced
working environment that can facilitate the enthusiasm of the personnel saddled
with the responsibility. This is the only condition under which the goal of
Guidance and Counselling can be achieved in our secondary schools.
However, a careful observation of Guidance and
Counselling indicated some challenges associated with the services to include:
inadequate funding of the program, inadequate guidance and Counselling
personnel, inadequate or improper motivation by parents and teachers.
Therefore, there is the need for further studies on the situation of Guidance
and Counselling in Nigerian secondary schools for better.